Madeleines: A First Attempt

May 28, 2022.Reading time 12 minutes.

I’ve never made madeleines before. They seem to have been in my life for as long as my memory goes back, like scones and clotted cream, the bread pudding and Christmas puddings I used to make as a child with my grandmother. I guess I perhaps ate madeleines for the first time in France. I […]

Restaurant Review: Tangawizi

May 20, 2022.Reading time 6 minutes.

I’ve written about Tangawizi before but it was 12 years ago in the early days of the blog. I listed it as one of my ‘favourite haunts’ – a category I eventually abandoned but Tangawizi remains a favourite haunt and the only place I ever order a takeaway from. I thought it deserved some attention […]

Grilled Crottin Salad with Figs, Walnuts & Honey

May 17, 2022.Reading time 9 minutes.

It’s been a bit of a French week: I’ve been upgrading my French Peugeot car to a newer (not new) version; I’ve been enjoying the re-run of Rick Stein’s Secret France on BBC TV in the evenings; and there was a French market in Twickenham on Sunday and Monday. I had the eldest grandsons – […]

Pan-Roasted Cod with a Blood Orange Salad

May 5, 2022.Reading time 11 minutes.

Tonight’s supper was my interpretation of the wonderful meal I had a Jose Pizarro’s restaurant in the Royal Academy of Arts in March (click here). I was particularly keen to make the blood orange salad, which was so gorgeous. I’ve been buying blood oranges recently from the local Twickenham greengrocer P. Cooper & Sons. It’s […]

Courgette, Tomato & Shallot with Basil Oil

April 24, 2022.Reading time 9 minutes.

I had the two eldest grandsons, aged 4 and 7, for 20 hours – from yesterday afternoon until late this morning. It was fun as always and such a joy to have their company. Supper was ragù bolognese from my freezer. When they have a sleepover, I like to eat with them, so their usual […]

Cooking with Freddie: Frozen Lemon Yogurt Cream

April 24, 2022.Reading time 8 minutes.

My grandson Freddie (7) loves lemons. He likes lemon drizzle cake, lemon sorbet, slices of lemon in drinks. For my birthday lunch at Masaniello last Saturday, when nine of us gathered around the long table, his chosen dessert was lemon sorbet. Not strawberry, chocolate or vanilla ice cream, but lemon sorbet. And he loved it. […]

4 Nights in Worthing: Eat, Drink, Do

April 4, 2022.Reading time 13 minutes.

Why go and what to do In all honesty, I went to Worthing in West Sussex simply because it’s a short drive – almost directly south – from my home in SW London (about 1½ hours). I wanted a seaside break to look forward to in the spring but didn’t want to travel far. You can also […]

Worthing: Last Day

April 3, 2022.Reading time 9 minutes.

I’ve been incredibly lucky with the weather here in Worthing. And as if to prove that I chose exactly the right days to come down, the forecast for tomorrow changes dramatically showing rain all day and strong winds. I’d thought I might hang around for the morning, have an early lunch and then head home, […]

Worthing: Dinner at Bayside Social

April 3, 2022.Reading time 6 minutes.

By one of those happy coincidences, after booking my trip to Worthing, I noticed a restaurant review by Jay Rayner in the Observer in January in which he wrote enthusiastically about Bayside Social. Located on Beach Parade, Rayner describes it thus: ‘The coast in winter can be bracing. But Bayside Social in Worthing proves to […]

Worthing: Cafes & Food Shacks

April 2, 2022.Reading time 7 minutes.

I’ve always been a cafe person. In many ways cafes are my favourite drinking and eating places – think especially the wonderful cafes of Vienna, Paris and Turin, steeped in cultural and political history. But even at home, I’m a regular seeker of a morning coffee and croissant in a favourite cafe. So, it was […]