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No date syrup - so ...
"If you can’t find mulberry pekmez, use date syrup instead." Yotam Ottolenghi I put that quote at the top of this post, because it...
Feb 2, 2024
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Cruising the net on a sunny afternoon
"In this age of getting what you want and getting it now, the simple pleasure of browsing is often forgotten." Tom Hodgkinson "watching...
Jan 30, 2024
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Cuisine heureuse - two men and a first recipe
"Books are so much more than simply a collection of words. They are glimpses into an epoch and the author's soul." François de...
Jan 29, 2024
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Almond crumbs - an indecisive lucky dip
"Change is not indecision" Chris Ofili Well that's what I'm telling myself now. I have somehow managed to make myself very confused...
Jan 27, 2024
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Changing the form, but retaining the spirit
“When I opened up my first restaurant it was never to cook Greek food the way most people had seen it.” Peter Conistis The dish at left...
Jan 17, 2024
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An American in Paris - David Lebovitz
"You can read about a French liqueur, or a cheese like Comté or Brie, but until you go to where it’s made, you can’t truly understand...
Jan 14, 2024
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Questions arising - a cookbook present
"Emma Freud: Because you aren’t surrounded by an Indian community in the UK, has your cooking become more anglicised? Chetna Makan:...
Jan 10, 2024
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A chef's life - down, up, and down again
"He became an apprentice chef to answer a simple question: did food exist that was better than that which he’d eaten?" Stephen Downes...
Jan 4, 2024
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Feasting with The Guardian
"for adventurous eaters and curious cooks." As you know I'm always plugging The Guardian and its team of food writers, recipe creators...
Dec 15, 2023
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Tuscany doesn't really do pasta
"all'etrusco on a Tuscan menu is not mere whimsy. these dishes actually forge a solid link with the past and incorporate the three basic...
Nov 30, 2023
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Pictures, words, irritations and detours
“A picture is a poem without words.” Horace Today's post was going to be a riff on this painting, which turned up on my desk calendar...
Nov 27, 2023
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"Comfort food stepped up a bit"
"Deb is a firm believer that there are no bad cooks, just bad recipes." GoodReads You can probably tell it's a mildly uninspired day -...
Nov 26, 2023
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The food curriculum - Literature
"Literature is the thought of thinking souls. Thomas Carlyle I chose the picture above as my pictorial hook for two reasons. The first...
Nov 23, 2023
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Search but you may not find
"Google is search. It’s the verb, to Google. It’s what we all do, all the time, whenever we want to know anything. We Google it." Carole...
Nov 19, 2023
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Frozen mangoes to Urban Nanna
"We believe that positive environmental and cultural change is ultimately possible, but that it will be infinitely more attainable if we...
Nov 18, 2023
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Take five - from maths to Jamie
I began this post yesterday, inspired by the painting on the left, but I didn't finish it and anyway I was very dissatisfied with what I...
Nov 14, 2023
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Old or new? - En papillote
"The team in the Ottolenghi test kitchen took some persuading about the benefits of cooking en papillote – they thought it was way too...
Nov 12, 2023
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An unexpected delight
"God bless the French lunch hour." Elizabeth David A lucky dip. Elizabeth David's book of essays and writings from here and there, An...
Nov 5, 2023
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Looking for something new with Nigel
"The minute details of cooking continue to fascinate me, the quality of the time we spend in the kitchen, the little kitchen tasks that...
Oct 20, 2023
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A postscript on first recipes
As a self-taught cook, I learned through cookbooks and love them dearly. There's an evolution to learning to cook this way and choosing...
Oct 18, 2023
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