You leave the office for half an hour and when you come back you’re told there’s been a delivery of Gail’s Hot Cross buns in your absence. You ask where they are and everyone stares resolutely at their screens while discreetly brushing crumbs off their keyboard. Is this a sackable offence? It should be.
I’ve got a lovely bunch of Carrots
Before I went to Sicily, I thought of tomatoes, peppers, aubergine, artichokes and mushrooms as Italian vegetables. Carrots were the wrong color for my red, white and green Italian palette. But, since my daily trips to the market, I have changed my mind.
Creating the cupcake – we taste a few cookery courses to see which is the icing on the top
Apparently name-dropping the ‘cupcake revolution’ is the fashion equivalent of extolling the maxi-dress: very 2008 darling. But the cupcake trend is still on a [parchment baking] roll – except that in 2008 we were buying ’em, now we’re making ’em. Enter the cupcake class – tutorials for the disenfranchised office-worker, wondering if they too could clear four grand a month* just by knocking up a few of Nigella’s best and selling them at £2 a pop to London’s glitterati. Of course it would seem I’m suggesting that such an entreprenual venture might be as simple as it is appealing. Believe me, it’s not
A man for all seasonal food. We talk and eat with Jose Pizaro of Tierra Brindisa Soho
I love Jose Pizaro; although this may be the beer goggles talking. No, I think it’s a serious crush. The man is ‘keeping it real’ with his Tierra Brindisa; simplicity and quality and a changing menu. The train spotters have moved on, chasing the next new thing, now his restaurant has proper customers, regulars. As we leave I reflect our offices are just a Rioja fuelled stagger away, so we will regularly be back.
Courvoisier’s Café du Pique-Nique: an early taste of summer!
This event will see The Future Gallery transformed into a vast indoor picnic area. While dismal London weather prevails outside, visitors can kick back, remove their shoes and enjoy their own summery picnic.
Chino Latino, Park Plaza Riverbank Hotel, London
Chino Latino is an excellent restaurant, we enjoyed our meal there and the ambience enormously. Situated on the south bank of the Thames, diagonally opposite the Houses of Parliament, it is a little away from central London’s restaurant land, but it is well worth making the effort to seek out.
Five a day, the Spanish way
After hearing about these remarkable fruits, it was time to taste some tapas, specially created by Ibèrica Head Chef Santiago Guerrero, all using Spanish raspberries and strawberries. Not necessarily an easy task, given that these fruits aren’t renowned for pairing with meat and fish – but we had open minds.
Midnight Feasts
Midnight Feasts conjures up a misty-eyed nostalgia, which makes for an enjoyable wallow in memories, but more than that, there are ideas for everyone in here, from the novice to the more accomplished cook: and better still, 100% of the profits go to Springboard for Children.
After Eight mint chocolate chip & ginger meringue ice
One to eat late at night in front of the telly
After Eight mint and vanilla cheesecake
Something very tasty and wickedly dark