The penny finally dropped today about the creeping commercialisation of all of our private conversations and lives. On the BBC Today programme today, Evan Davies said follow us on Twitter after a piece on Arcelor Mittal in Liberia, which questioned how well they were doing in creating economic well-being. And I realised that that is [...]
Is social media really so benign?
June 25th, 2012Cooking With A Wonderbag
June 5th, 2012Sophie came across the Wonderbag on the radio and then The Guardian, so one arrived several weeks thereafter. Basically, a Wonderbag is a modern and green take on the slow cooker and that you find in books as far back as Mrs Beeton’s and even like the traditional way of cooking in a hole in [...]
Dosas – Southern Indian Pancakes
April 25th, 2012My parents have recently come back from a wedding in Southern India and they have been to one of my favourite regions, Kerala. They were blown away by the delicious food and already miss the flavours of their staple, the dosa. At about the same time, Sophie has been chatting with The Curry Guy and [...]
Pretty Little Rich Cake
April 17th, 2012It was Sophie’s birthday the other day. We went out en famille for a Chinese meal at Sweet Basil in Kirk Hammerton. Sophie wanted a strawberry cake, so I felt like trying something a bit old-fashioned. Before Bird and Dr Oetker independently came up with the idea of baking powder to put the fluff into [...]
Life So Material
April 11th, 2012“For too long we seem to have surrendered personal excellence and community value in the mere accumulation of material things. Our gross national product now is over 800 billion dollars a year, but that gross national product, if we judge the United States of America by that, that gross national product counts air pollution, and [...]
Sophie Grigson Cookery Demonstration At The Oak Tree In Helperby
March 28th, 2012On Monday 26th, we had arranged a cookery demonstration by Sophie Grigson of some recipes from her new cookery book, Spices, followed by some fizz and a book signing session, before lunch. The event was hosted for Steenbergs at The Oak Tree in Helperby, which in a twist of fate celebrates it one year birthday [...]
A Better Version Of Simnel Cake Than My Last Attempt
March 19th, 2012A year or so ago I made a simnel cake, but it came out rather squat and a tad heavy. The squatness was easily remedied with a smaller baking tin, while the texture was improved through using a lighter recipe with more eggs. I have, also, used an idea that was given to me, and [...]
Having A Crack At Making Pan Pepato
March 5th, 2012One of my favourite Christmassy things is panforte and I, also, love Nurnberger lebkuchen. It hails from Siena which is probably my favourite city in Italy. There really is something special about sitting out in the Piazza del Campo, looking across the amphitheatre shape of the cobbled open across to the Palazzo Publico. Perhaps it [...]
Delicious (Though I Say It Myself) Orange And Earl Grey Cake
February 25th, 2012Some Recipe Ideas For Laura Santtini’s Alchemical Larder Ingredients
February 17th, 2012I have been asked by several people to give some starting ideas for the various goodies within Laura Santtini’s Alchemical Larder box that we provide to Fortnum & Mason, Harrods, Harvey Nichols and Selfridges amongst others. So while there is a small card insert in the boxes, it does not contain any recipes. Here are [...]
