Cuisines

Welcome to my blog/journal/whatever

This is the real guts of this website. The old website and its archived posts is still available at its old url. Newcomers might like to dip into it every now and then.

Welcome to you all. Amazingly I still don't seem to be running out of ideas on what to write - well occasionally - but I have my writer's block strategies to turn to - see the text on the right. Check this page for the latest posts and if something interests you just click on it. It's easy to leave a comment and I love to read them. And now you can subscribe to the blog and get emailed notifications of new posts. And sorry I just don't understand Facebook.

"We are not here for long. So let's at least make ourselves something good to eat."

Nigel Slater

"I was born hungry, not a cook."

Julia Child

"One cannot think well, love well, sleep well, if one has not dined well"

Virginia Woolf

Writer's block

Every now and then I can't think of a suitable topic and so I have devised a few strategies to get around this.

Lucky dip

The first strategy I devised is to go to one of my three cook book bookshelves, close my eyes and pick a book. Close my eyes again and pick a page. It's really quite an enlightening method of getting over writer's block.

'A word from'

My second strategy is to devote a post to the thoughts of one of my favourite cooks. Hopefully it will introduce them to you

Or

I shall choose a picture I have come across and extemporise on that.

A second kind of lucky dip

I have been thinking about first recipes in cook books - so I shall choose a book not quite randomly and then look at the first recipe for inspiration.

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enjoy

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Tiny El Salvador

"The wildcard of Central America" Lonely Planet I'm continuing my world tour today, working my way through Central America with El Salvador - the smallest country in the area - slightly smaller than Belize. It is also the most densely populated part of Central America although some 40% of its population have left the country. Well it's had a really turbulent history in recent times - a civil war from 1980 to 1992, which was a regular feature in the news of the time, and si

4 days ago

Indian cookbooks - then and now

"Books, even cookbooks, are written for a diversity of reasons and it is often more profitable to enquire why they have been written than analyse their contents in an uncritical manner. " Shylashri Shankar/The Peepul Tree I guess this particular post stems from one of those books on my desk - The Food of India - a large beautiful book which I picked up from the op shop for a song. Like it's companions in this series from the Murdoch stable on various world cuisines, it feat

Nov 4

A ramble beginning with oxtail soup

"Rambling talk with an image of air." William Butler Yeats This particular ramble began today, with a question, to which I haven't really found an answer. Well maybe. Although really it began a few days ago with a vague idea for a blog. It wasn't going to be a ramble down highways and byways. It was just going to be a fairly simple exploration of oxtail soup - my ultimately chosen English soup in my very occasional world soup series. The usual thing - a few words about

Oct 20

From the street to Michelin stars - first recipe

"there is no such thing as ‘traditional, authentic cuisine’ anywhere. It’s constantly evolving." Thitid “Ton” Tassanakajohn - Michelin star chef Bangkok Before I return yesterday's book to a shelf somewhere I thought I should do a first recipe thing on it, as it will be placed on a shelf that has already been given the first recipe treatment. I also decided retrospectively, having researched a bit, to cover two different dishes here - the first and third recipes in the book.

Oct 17

Defeated by a first recipe

"sometimes the wall is just a wall. There’s nothing to be done but go somewhere else." Margaret Atwood This book has been sitting on my...

Sep 18

Pizza cooked on a volcano - Guatemala

“Through the narrow streets of Antigua, the ghosts of Guatemala’s colonial past still wander” Francisco Goldman My family has a somewhat...

Sep 15

A question about shepherd's pie

On Sunday we had shepherd's pie for dinner because I had leftover lamb from Friday. Whenever we have a roast and have leftovers we...

Aug 26

How to begin a cookbook

"an ode to the food of my childhood, a mash up of food from Bahrain and the surrounding countries, with a slightly Westernised take,...

Aug 13

Mediterraneanism - it's all Elizabeth David's fault

“While I roast as many Mediterranean vegetables as the next person, I worry about what the ‘Mediterraneanisation’ of cooking is doing to...

Aug 11

Wild rice

I have been reading my chosen book for book group - The Sentence by Louise Erdrich a multi-award winning author - including the Pulitzer...

Aug 6

A german soup begins a world tour

"Soup not only warms you and is easy to swallow and to digest, it also creates the illusion in the back of your mind that Mother is...

Jul 31

Fusion or confusion? - two dinners

"a twisted kind of sense" Jay Rayner This is last night's dinner - simply called Fried beef kerala from my other The Food of ... series...

Jul 27

Are we British ashamed of cream buns?

"The fisherman fishes as the urchin eats cream buns, from lust". T. H. White I actually started out with the idea of doing an oddments...

Jul 18

Do I need this book?

Probably not, but I want it - it's an object of desire Continuing with the pile of books on my desk I have mentioned this one a couple of...

Jul 17

Belize - do you know anything about it?

"Take nothing but pictures. Leave nothing but footprints. Eat nothing but fry jacks!” Anon I'm continuing my world foodie tour and have...

Jul 12

Rambling again - a pasta dish

"Best eaten after sturdy exercise in the open air." The Food of Italy This is a typical Rosemary's ramble, beginning with the usual what...

Jul 3

Deep dish pizza

After the first slice you are full, and you should be. You’ve eaten roughly three pounds of food that is baked on top of a crispy,...

Jul 2

A Jamie book

"We're all familiar with the clichés of American food: junk food and supersizing ... but what is real American food all about?" Jamie...

Jun 30

Tfaya

Above is Tfaya baked chicken from Nargisse Benkabbou - now British, but born in Brussels to Moroccan born parents - chef and food...

Jun 20

The mysteries of authenticity

"While the concept of a fried roll originates from China, the specific combination of chicken and ham is not a traditional Chinese...