Art & Food: Whistler and Jose Pizarro at the Royal Academy of Arts

March 10, 2022.Reading time 11 minutes.

It’s been a while since I’ve had one of my Art & Food excursions into London. I’ve been to the Victoria & Albert Museum a couple of times, and recently to The Courtauld Gallery to see Van Gogh’s Portraits with my friend Annette, who was over from Italy for a long weekend. After seeing the […]

Almost Instant Frozen Berry Yogurt

March 2, 2022.Reading time 7 minutes.

I’ve been thinking about making this for ages; well, trying it out and seeing how it worked. I’ve taken to buying packs of frozen mixed organic berries regularly from Waitrose, which I have with my breakfast, taking a few out at night to thaw in the fridge in a small bowl for the next morning. […]

Cooking with Kids: Welsh Cakes

February 21, 2022.Reading time 10 minutes.

My son Jonathan’s wife is Welsh, hence the boys – Freddie (7), Ben (4) and Alex (1) are half Welsh. This fact is mainly discussed in relation to rugby when Freddie is involved. He’s seriously into rugby at the moment – well he was born in Twickenham and lives within walking distance of the famous […]

Lunch with the Grandsons at Masaniello

February 16, 2022.Reading time 6 minutes.

Freddie and I were talking about Masaniello last week and Livio’s pizzas. Livio, co-owner and head chef of Masaniello, hails from Naples and thus knows a good deal about making an excellent pizza. We haven’t been for a long time, said Freddie. No, we haven’t, I said, so we’ll go soon, next time you’re on […]

Celery Soup

February 7, 2022.Reading time 9 minutes.

The weather is in that uncertain stage when it’s not quite sure if it wants to take a leap into spring or bid a hasty retreat back into cold winter days. Here in London we’re used to changeable weather throughout the year where you can see huge 10C drops or jumps from one day to […]

My Chicken Jalfrezi

January 22, 2022.Reading time 15 minutes.

I’m very carefully calling this ‘my’ Chicken Jalfrezi. Ten years of blogging has taught me caution when posting a traditional recipe for often people will question its authenticity – question what I’ve put in and what I’ve left out. Of course, it’s interesting to know what is considered ‘authentic’, and I do a lot of […]

Oat & Chocolate Chip Cookies

January 21, 2022.Reading time 6 minutes.

Yes, I’m still baking cookies and biscuits but not at a pace that keeps up with the family. I recently tried adding chocolate chips instead of raisins to the Oat & Raisin Cookies I made last month, which were a great success. I did it partly as not everyone in the family likes raisins and […]

TV Review: Rick Stein’s Cornwall

January 10, 2022.Reading time 5 minutes.

I was delighted to see there was a new series of Rick Stein’s Cornwall on BBC2 last week: 15 half-hour episodes over three weeks. I really enjoyed the first series last year and it gave me some great information for my holiday in Cornwall last September, especially leading me to Jack Doherty’s pottery in Penzance […]

Film Review: Boiling Point

January 9, 2022.Reading time 5 minutes.

We’ve all heard it’s hot in the kitchen; we may have watched Gordon Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares, but Boiling Point takes the heat in the professional kitchen to a whole new level. Released last summer, the film is now available on Curzon Home Cinema, which is how I came to find it and watch it last […]

Pear, Blue Cheese & Walnut Salad with a Honey & Mustard Dressing

January 1, 2022.Reading time 5 minutes.

Happy New Year 2022! 🎉🍾 I wish you all a very happy and healthy 2022 and may all your dreams for the new year come true. *************** This is another leftovers post- and another very simple but delicious recipe. I had quite a bit of Saint Agur cheese left over from the black rice dish […]