Spain 2023: A Day Trip to Valencia

September 22, 2023.Reading time 10 minutes.

I’ve made the day trip to Valencia from Linda & George’s home in Spain a number of times. It’s a beautiful city that I don’t think I could tire of visiting. The city is the capital of the province of Valencia and the third largest municipality in Spain. There has been a city there since […]

Spain 2023: Return to Alicante

September 20, 2023.Reading time 7 minutes.

Remarkably, it’s been six years since I lasted visited my good friends Linda & George in Spain – a trip that was once an annual one. But covid and other things intervened, though happily I have seen them a number of times in London since then. So, it was with delight that I once again […]

Tomato Chutney

August 18, 2023.Reading time 10 minutes.

I had a lot of tomatoes. There were tomatoes on the three small plants in a pot outside my back door. Planted mainly for the benefit of the grandsons but with them away for the summer holidays, there’s no little person around to pick off the ripe cherry tomatoes and pop them straight into their […]

The Real Greek, Strand WC2

August 17, 2023.Reading time 10 minutes.

I was going to the theatre for the first time in ages, to see The Pillowman at the Duke of York’s Theatre in St Martin’s Lane. Having not long been back from Wales, I was a bit late suggesting to my friend that we met to eat first, and thus my usual haunt for that […]

A Week in North Wales, 2023

August 13, 2023.Reading time 19 minutes.

I’ve just returned from a lovely week in North Wales with the family. I didn’t know Wales well at all and welcomed the chance to get to know it better, especially as I have a Welsh daughter-in-law and three half-Welsh grandsons. The cottage we rented was in the Snowdonia National Park and thus we were […]

Restaurant Review: Barrafina, Coal Drops Yard, King’s Cross

August 3, 2023.Reading time 9 minutes.

I’ve been meaning to go to Coal Drops Yard for ages … well since it opened in October 2018 and people started talking about it being a great foodie destination. So when good friends Annie & Jerry suggested meeting there to eat at Barrafina, I was delighted. At last, I was going to make it […]

12 Years of Blogging and a Life in Food

July 25, 2023.Reading time 20 minutes.

It’s the blog’s 12th birthday today. I published my first post on 25 July 2011: The Single Gourmet Traveller & Greek Aubergine Salad. I’d recently returned from a lovely solo holiday to Greece and decided to write a blog about travelling and eating alone, with a particular emphasis at the start in finding places where […]

A French-style Apricot Tart

July 9, 2023.Reading time 9 minutes.

My daughter Nicola, her wife and 4-year-old son stopped off overnight en route to the Channel Tunnel and a trip through France, Switzerland and Italy. I wanted to cook a nice meal for the evening but also take into account that with my son’s three boys (2, 5 and 8) coming over for a while […]

A Taste of Twickenham 2023

July 2, 2023.Reading time 13 minutes.

There had been posters in the windows of shops and restaurants for weeks advertising A Taste of Twickenham – a foodie trail and chance to find out about some of the other things the town had to offer. I made a mental note of the date, let the family know, and told the two eldest […]

48 Hours in Chichester, West Sussex

June 18, 2023.Reading time 35 minutes.

There’s been a plan in my head to go to Chichester since June last year. So the trip has been a year in the making, and I finally made it there this week for a two nights’ stay. It’s not so far away from me – merely an hour and half’s drive (if traffic is good) – […]