Sunday 26 February 2012

Roasted soup & baked crisps – how’d you like them apples?!

Recreating Jamie Oliver's roast apple and squash soup

The only apple I’ve ever been tempted by is the Big one more commonly known as New York City. 

Admittedly, if I had a fear of doctors I'd be sure to note the fruit’s apparent silver bullet-esque protection and dose myself up daily. But eating an apple doesn’t excite me – it’s not colourful like a kiwi or a strawberry, or flavourful like a mango or a banana. Indeed, if it had been me there in the Garden of Eden, I’m fairly confident that I would have been able to resist the snake’s charms to try the fruit of the loins of the tree of knowledge, and stay blissfully ignorant.

Thursday 16 February 2012

#Project366 – week 6

A whole host of culinary discoveries caught on camera in this week’s #project366 round-up…

#36 - Licking the bowl clean of blueberry muffin mix

Day #36 – The best part of baking my low-fat blueberry muffins was licking the bowl clean of any leftover cake mix

Sunday 12 February 2012

The best low-fat blueberry muffins made by the worst baker

 Low-fat blueberry muffins sprinkled with snowy spiced sugar

Like most of London, I awoke last weekend to a winter wonderland. The heavens had opened overnight and left every surface caked in a bright white layer of snow, as if the mortal world were a delicious dessert dusted with icing sugar ready to be served at the gods’ dinner party.

Thursday 9 February 2012

#Project366 – week 5

I can’t believe I’ve already captured a month’s worth of culinary moments on camera - week 5 waved goodbye to the January blues and welcomed in frosty February. With Valentine’s Day and Shrove Tuesday rapidly approaching, plus an extra 24 hours in the calendar this month for the leap year, I’m predicting some seductive snapshots to get you salivating in the next few #Project366 updates!

#29 - Rhubarb crumble served by the fire at The Hoop in Stock

Day #29Rhubarb crumble, served with custard and ice-cream by a roaring fire at The Hoop in Stock - the perfect pudding to end a pub lunch in the countryside!

Tuesday 7 February 2012

Hopelessly devoted to Hotel Chocolat – Ideal Valentine’s Day Gifts

Hotel Chocolat Sleekster Love Selection

When it comes to gift-giving, my boyfriend and I have become increasingly hopeless. After shelling out significant chunks of our hard-earned cash last summer to settle down together in our little London flat, we sensibly decided to postpone Christmas 2011 and instead put the pennies in a jar for a special occasion in 2012. Whilst I don’t regret us putting our heads before our hearts and balancing our budget at this early stage, I am quite embarrassed that our greetings cards for the festive season still remain unwritten and stashed away by our respective bedsides!

With Valentine’s Day just around the corner, I was keen to redress this recent failure and show my man how much he means to me. But what could I get a technological guru who listens to the latest tunes on Spotify and downloads new books directly to his Kindle?!

Saturday 4 February 2012

#Project366 – week 4

Feast your eyes on these flashes of food finesse from the final week of January…

#22 Arriving at Fifteen London for Luke Robinson's supper club

Day #22 – My first trip to Jamie Oliver’s flagship restaurant Fifteen for an Italian-themed lunchtime supper club by one of their 2006 graduates Luke Robinson. Seeing those mopeds reminded me of the buzz I felt when Jamie first hit our screens as the Naked Chef!

Wednesday 1 February 2012

Brixton Village – Hunting out the hidden food hall

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For months my fine food antennae had been twitching with anticipation at testing out what Brixton Village had to offer. I’d heard numerous rave reviews of this collection of independent eateries from natives of the capital (including my favourite food critic and Brixtonite Jay Rayner), so I jumped at the opportunity to combine a summer’s evening at the retro Ritzy Cinema with a visit to the Village.