It’s been another good week of food, made all the better by enjoying some lovely warm summer days which have meant another barbecue and the irresistible lure of gelato! Here’s how it went:

Tuesday – Frittata and A Walk Up Richmond Hill

It was book club night so an early supper of a frittata into which I put sliced red peppers, shallot, baby tomatoes and a few peas, then a good shower of freshly grated Parmesan near the end to sizzle a bit under the grill. It was a lovely evening to make my way into Richmond on the bus and then get off to walk across the bridge. The river was high, flooding the towpath and cutting off the White Cross pub in the distance. This is a regular occurrence due to locks at both Richmond and Teddington further down the Thames.

Then it was a fairly steep climb up Richmond Hill to the Roebuck pub where the book club meets, but I was rewarded with a wonderful view.

Wednesday – All Day Italian

In the morning I shared a croissant with Freddie at Your Bakery Whitton where the Italian head chef/baker Stefano makes the most wonderful croissants. In the afternoon I had an Italian lesson with Fabio. In the evening Italian friend Antonio took me out for an Italian meal at Osteria Pulcinella (click here for review) where we finished the meal with a very good tiramisu.

Thursday – Sun and Gelato

I had a work meeting near Richmond bridge early afternoon. Afterwards, I couldn’t resist crossing the bridge and making my way to Gelateria Danieli for a gelato – chocolate sorbet & Sicilian blood orange sorbet. Wow! Yes it was very good indeed!

Friday – A Grandioso Lunch

I realise as I’m writing this that all the week has had an Italian theme. Not surprising as any regular reader knows how much I like Italy – but there didn’t seem to be room for much else this week! Though I’m not complaining. On Friday my friend Annie was in Richmond and we met for lunch at Carluccio’s and shared a gorgeous Grandioso plate of antipasti.

Saturday – Spontaneous Pizza, Russian Art and American Dinner

I was meeting friend Elsa late afternoon at the National Portrait Gallery and we were going on to eat at Joe Allen. In such circumstances, lunch would normally be something like a slice of toast and mashed avocado. However, when around midday Jonathan rang to say they were heading for Ruben’s Refettorio for a pizza lunch and did I want to join them – well, how could I resist a Ruben’s pizza! I had a simple Margherita but simple is still excellent, especially with Ruben’s wonderful sourdough base. I shared it with Freddie who was also impressed.

The Russia and the Arts exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery was wonderful. It was fascinating to see portraits of people like Tchaikovsky, Ibsen, Tolstoy and other great writers and artists whose names are so familiar but we don’t generally know how they looked.

I had a lovely Shaved Vegetable Salad with Toasted Cashews, Black Sesame Seeds, Cilantro & Slaw Dressing at the fabulous Joe Allen, simply one of my very favourite places. To follow I had Black Bream, Heritage Tomato Salad and Olive Mash. At just £14.95 for 2 courses, with the option to add a 125ml glass of house wine for £3, this set menu has to be one of the best in central London.

Sunday – Sunny Sunday Barbecue

Sunday saw Jonathan, Lyndsey and Freddie come over for a barbecue. This was when I made the delicious Lamb & Pistachio kofte from Rick Stein’s Venice to Istanbul book. Click here for recipe.

Monday – English Teatime Cakes and A French Supper

The day of the sunny afternoon and tea in the garden with Nicola and Rachael and those more-ish Blueberry Rock Cakes (click here for recipe). In the evening I met friend Liz at Côte Bistro in Richmond, a favourite haunt for a good value early evening menu.

We both had asparagus to begin as it’s the asparagus season. The asparagus was nicely cooked but I felt the tarragon and chive vinaigrette dressing overwhelmed the flavour a bit too much. I had some nice salmon fishcakes to follow. It was lovely to find it still light when we came out of the restaurant and the walk back across Richmond bridge was made more lovely by the glorious sunset making a great end to this week’s My Week in Food.