

Scarpaccia - and sad/happy memories
"thin and a bit crusty, just like an old shoe." Frank/Memorie di Angelina That's how I feel a bit these days ... Well not quite thin enough in body anyway. But this is a story all about this delicious looking Tuscan speciality. As always I start on one thing and wander here and there before ending up somewhere completely unexpected. So to begin at the beginning - the picture above of Tom Hunt's version of Scarpaccia which instantly reminded me of another Italian zucchini
Oct 31, 2025


Beautiful words, beautiful food - Nigel
"Early spring, Kamakura, and a small basket appears at my table and a tiny dish of salt. In it, a single whisp of new season's bracken in tempura batter, the fern caught in the process of slowly unfurling." Nigel Slater Looking for inspiration again - it's an everyday thing. I couldn't get excited about the cuisine of El Salvador or smoked fish canapés (my next first recipe - maybe tomorrow), and so I decided to have another look at Nigel Slater's beautiful book of small w
Oct 29, 2025


Hawaij, spice mixes and marketing
The other day I bought this expensive jar of Ottolenghi hawaij paste. It was on a special, I was just filling in time waiting for David for some reason I cannot now remember, wandering around Woolworths when I spied it. I had noticed Hawaij a lot here and there, or so I thought, and I was feeling a bit down, and so I thought 'why not?' and put it in my trolley. I feel a tiny bit cross at myself, because there are lots of recipes online for a hawaij spice mix, and it's not
Oct 23, 2025


The mysterious invisible cake - France, Russia, Japan?
"It seems to me that invisibility is the required provision of elegance. Elegance ceases to exist when it is noticed." Jean Cocteau Tuesday is the day that Deb Perelman's Smitten Kitchen newsletter arrives in my inbox. Today - seeing as how it is autumn - well fall - over there in the US of A - she was focussed on apples, and amongst the many delectable recipes on offer was this Invisible apple cake, which she likened to Apple sharlotka - a Russian cake that she had wri
Oct 21, 2025


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, 2025


Uneasy and undecided
"Improvisation is the ability to talk to oneself." Cecil Taylor It's the same old question. What shall I cook for dinner tonight? And...
Oct 12, 2025


Lentils and pasta - minestra?
"Perché la minestra si fredda (because the soup is getting cold)" Leonardo da Vinci Those words are sometimes cited as Leonardo's last...
Oct 11, 2025


Pizza and pineapple - yes or no?
"that conversation never ends well, and in fact never really ends." Itamar Srulovich/The Guardian It's interesting how some foods create...
Oct 4, 2025


Sorrel - from weed to haute cuisine
"Sorrel bridges the divide rather splendidly between herb and vegetable." Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall This is one of the photographs I...
Sep 26, 2025


Fried bread
"Not to be confused with fry bread." Wikipedia I sat for a while at my desk trying to think of something to write about but gave up and...
Sep 24, 2025


Duck
"To me, duck conjures up images of wonderful, rustic food, enjoyed slowly, in quiet places." Gile Meller/River Cottage A-Z I continue to...
Sep 21, 2025


Can Civilisation happen without milk?
"A civilization is a large group of people who share certain advanced ways of living and working." Kids Britannica I gave up on Latin at...
Sep 3, 2025


Cauliflower and chicken - different approaches
This is one of those 'I've got to use up something so what am I going to make?' pieces with some other random thoughts about this and...
Aug 28, 2025


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, 2025


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, 2025


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, 2025


Nuggets
" nugget - a small piece or lump, especially of gold in its natural state" or "something small but valuable or excellent" Cambridge...
Aug 5, 2025


Lessons from a recipe
Yesterday we celebrated my older son's birthday here with the now almost traditional and compulsory spaghetti and meatballs - and a cake...
Aug 4, 2025


Wensleydale and cranberries - why?
"It's okay to like wensleydale and cranberries" reddit - Is it? Wensleydale cheese - the pure kind, is one of my favourite cheeses, but...
Jul 29, 2025


An earl, history and recipes
"Tea, Earl Grey, hot" Picard/StarTrek Well the above quote has nothing to do with this post really, but not being a Star Trek follower I...
Jul 23, 2025

