I like to think of myself as an inventive cook, able to whip something up from a Mother Hubbard-style cupboard at a moment’s notice. Of course, sometimes this is easier said than done, but after a week of nearly constant entertaining and menu planning it’s fun to mix and match leftover ingredients. (A much nicer…
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A dull Monday, brightened by a burst of sunshine, a pot of peppermint tea and Natalie Merchant working her musical magic on a collection of 19th century poems. Make sure you watch to the end, when she gives the stuffed shirts in the audience a lesson in how to clap in time. Natalie Merchant sings…
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The humble loaf is never going to get the recognition given to flashy cupcakes or decadent gateaux. Loaves are like nurses or nuns – reliable, sturdy, perhaps a little bit worthy, a little bit ignored. Loaves are the jeans-and-a-t-shirt option in a cupboard full of party dresses. Show a child an opulently iced cupcake or…
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Over at The Guardian’s excellent food blog, Word Of Mouth, they’re stirring the pot by asking readers to nominate what they believe to be the 50 best cookbooks “of all time”. It’s a nasty job, but I guess someone has to do it etc.The full list will be published in this Sunday’s Observer Food Monthly,…
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An Important Personage is coming for dinner. In the days of Jane Austen this would be the new vicar or a wealthy landowner, but in these, less rarefied times, it is simply the Boy Wonder’s new boss. There are things I have learned about the new boss that cannot be repeated, but we are rolling…
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