Travel tips-Restaurant reviews-Recipes
Just a week left before closing date to vote in these awards (by 24 April). I know many of you have voted for me already and many thanks – but if you haven’t, I’d be very grateful if you would now! 🙂
Read MoreI spend quite a lot of time in various Carluccio’s Caffes – though mainly my local Richmond branch. I buy most of my pasta there (especially my favourite orecchiette), polenta, olives, panettone at Christmas, colomba at Easter and wonderful baci di dama biscuits (to which I am seriously addicted). I probably meet friends there for […]
Read MoreThere’s been a lot of gardening going on. My own garden is quite small but it’s surprising how much time it takes to tidy it after winter and plant some new shrubs and replant pots. I’ve also been helping Jonathan in their much bigger garden over the past two weekends. The young family are still a […]
Read MoreA lot has been happening in Kew Gardens since my March visit. Three weeks ago I was in Kew with my friend Elsa and saw a big change from when I’d written my March post just two weeks’ earlier. The magnolias were in blossom: their big majestic flowers ranging from white, through pale pink to deep […]
Read MoreI’ve been looking forward to the British Museum’s Defining Beauty: the body in ancient Greek art exhibition since first reading about it some months ago. It was watching Alastair Sooke’s brilliant Treasures of Ancient Greece on BBC4 last night that reminded me that the exhibition must have opened. With another of my ‘days off between […]
Read MoreLamb is perhaps a more traditional roast for Easter Sunday but I fancied a nice roast chicken so bought one in the farmers’ market yesterday. I didn’t want to do anything very fancy with it so decided to flavour it simply with just some lemon and thyme and add a dash of cream to the […]
Read MoreI caught sight of an article in the Huffington Post on Facebook yesterday about 10 things not to ask a food blogger. Of course, I was immediately attracted to reading it but then disappointed to find that the blogger in question was a nutritionist and dietician and the questions were nothing like anything someone might say to me […]
Read MoreWriting about the maize for polenta growing in the fertile plains of the Po Valley in Northern Italy in my last post set up a longing for some polenta. Polenta is a relatively new love of mine. My first experiences of it were of glutinous and tasteless lumps that didn’t inspire me to cook it myself. […]
Read More‘Necessity is the mother of invention’ goes the old English proverb. Well, of course, I didn’t invent semifreddo but my venture into making one came because I still haven’t got round to buying a new ice-cream maker. I lent my old one to my daughter at Christmas when she wanted to make a clementine sorbet for […]
Read MoreMany countries have a form of bread salad. The Italians have panzanella; in Lebanon and other Middle Eastern countries you will find fattoush; while many salads, like Caesar Salad, contain croutons – fried bread cubes. I was introduced to Dakos by Liquid Gold Cave when I did an olive oil tasting course last year; it was […]
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