‘A 21st century guide to captivating a Dish, his friends and virtually everyone else using home cooking and a little homespun psychology’. Now, this might have been popular 50 years ago but surely it’s not going to sit well with modern day bra-burners? The authors, Penny Isaacs and Sarah Lockett – both happily married, of course – assure us that they’re not advocating a return to domestic drudgery, just a little ‘targeted cooking’ but I’m not buying it. After 16 chapters of carefully planned soirees and ‘CookSmart’ tips; it seems that ‘having it all’ just means ‘doing it all’.
Corrigan’s Mayfair restaurant
Richard Corrigan’s life has been defined by pathos. From tending roots, shoots and sorting cows from sows, to tussling chicken-crazed foxes, he rose from the bog where electricity was anathema, to cook for the Queen. In rehabilitating dowdy ‘Bentley’s’, the barrel-tummied Nimrod also roused interest in food ‘from our islands’. An almost evangelical ingredientism continues to eat into his latest venture.
The Kitchen Mother’s Day
Every year on Mother’s Day we all scratch our heads for that perfect and elusive Mother’s Day present. So, The Kitchen of Parsons Green have come up with a selection of unique gift ideas for kids of all ages to create an extra special treat this Mothering Sunday.
Poetry at the Goring
As far as I am concerned if a poem neither rhymes nor scans, it’s just bad prose laid out in a non standard way. So an invitation to The Goring Hotel for an evening of poetry had me fearing the worst – Maya Angelou being read aloud perhaps? Or, God forbid, some of Ezra Pound’s dribblings who was locked up for being a traitor and not, alas, for his poetry.These fears proved groundless…
The Cinnamon Kitchen Restaurant
Brick Lane is just a few hundred yards away from Cinnamon Kitchen but it’s a million miles away in spirit. On Brick Lane hustlers from the endless restaurants whisper at you seductively, attempting to lure you into their establishment with promises of good times and blandishments about your wonderfulness.
Nutiva packs pure hemp protein and Super omegas into tasty seeds and shakes
No longer seen only as just a close relative of the waccy baccy, hemp has become hip for all kinds of reasons.Hempseed is one of nature’s genuine superfoods that provides pure, plant protein and Omega 3 and 6 in the ideal 3:1 ratio. These nutritional benefits address the downfalls of the 21st Century diet which is commonly short on protein, lacking in Essential Fatty Acids (EFAs) and low in fibre.
Filippo Berio’s Olive Oil tasting
We’ve come a long way since olive oil was only sold in chemists specifically to be poured into a young boy’s ears to loosen blockages (ask me how I know!). The idea of cooking with the stuff certainly never crossed my mother’s mind and even if it had, the bottles were so small it would hardly have been cost-effective.
The Potting Shed Pub
One year, four seasons and hours of digging since opening and The Potting Shed is trailblazing the grow-your-own food revolution.To the rear of their country pub in the Cotswolds owners Jonathan Barry and Julian Muggridge have created a large kitchen garden providing Chef Dan Wyatt with fresh, organic vegetables, salad leaves and herbs.
Mum’s British Cheesecake with Warm Blueberries
With Mother’s day coming up, there’s no better way to show your Mum how special she is than by serving up a delicious British Cheesecake with warm blueberries. Made with low fat cheese they will not even have to worry about their waistline!
Buonissimo! Gino D’Acampo
What’s this? An Italian cookbook that has only a few pasta recipes in it? Now that’s a turn up for the books and no mistake. I’m so excited I am prepared to turn a blind eye to Gino D’Acampo’s moody posing in grainy black and white, sexy stubble and furry arms to the fore and with a sheen of olive oil all over his face. Not since the last Tom Aitken book has a chef preened quite so much between the covers.