coffee continues...

More coffee spots, courtesy of a Time Out article from February this year.

The gent and I have been cycling to work every day. In a delicious turn for the even-better, this morning we parked up our two-wheeled steeds and had a coffee together. Well, if you save 20 minutes on your journey by cycling, then you can afford such Monday morning treats! Lovely as my regular coffee haunt is, I had been thinking of alternative spots to keep things lively, and this list provides great riches. It is also good for just reading the delicious descriptions - how beautifully they describe their espressi et al!

I noted down some spots near work... and also near home... and then a few for when I am caught in an unfamiliar part of town and don't want to risk a lousy coffee! Hope you enjoy it too.

cold cuts #2

Are you in London with a moment to spare this weekend? Then head to Kings Cross and the Food Junctions festival: free, foodie, and looks very fun. I especially like the look of the 'Hot stuff' talk on spice, the Urban bees, and hearing Kathleen Burk talk about wine.

Food Junctions is on from 24, 25 and 28th April, and 1 and 2nd May.

I meant to say more about my addition to Masterchef, I was thoroughly hooked by the last week. I love how suddenly the contestants are stretched to their creative limit and have the most amazing tasks to complete! I had a little browse of Alex's blog (one of the finalists). I read just about any food blog I can find, however his is most adventurous so is especially nice to dip into.

And finally, my top tip for transporting food to work. After many years of soup-in-handbag spillage incidents, permanently be-crumbed clothes not to mention the salad dressing drama, I thought I had all the tricks for keeping food in the tub on a commute. However, my journey this week has been by bicycle, presenting a whole new challenge! A vegetable madras with rice was frozen overnight, wrapped in a plastic bag, then some fabric to alleviate the cold, and chucked into the flimsiest of backpacks. No spillage. Until I get a bicycle basket, long live the freezer-method!

cold cuts : bits and bobs

How naive! How I walked into that one!
After sweepingly declaring that I could probably make the River Cafe's 'Chocolate Nemesis' at home, and adding the RC's cook books to my Amazon wish list, I stumbled across this, from Julian Barnes:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2003/mar/29/julianbarnes.houseandgarden
Oh dear. Nemesis by name, nemesis by nature, it seems. And written seven years ago, too! Very old news.

In cauliflower news, I urged both my sister and Bert to make the Moro cauliflower soup which is so dear to my tastebuds, but couldn't find any mention of it on my blog to direct them to. Very remiss of me: it is the most wonderful yoghurt soup flavoured with coriander seed, first made for me by Jo, and worth buying the book 'Casa Moro' for alone.

And finally, a mention of the gent's roast lamb. He made it for me just over a year ago and it has sentimental as well as taste merits. He made it recently for a few of us and this is how he did it:

• Take one huge shoulder of lamb, spear the fat with a knife, at a 45 degree angle, making a hole in the surface. Repeat, many times. Fill each mini-pocket with a sliver of garlic, bit of rosemary and about 1/4 of an anchovy fillet.
• Roast about 2 hours, depending on weight.
• It is sublime with anything you choose to serve, but this time it's supporting act were be-almonded cous cous and rocket.

It is amazing how much flavour this gave to the lamb fat: my vanity had left the building, beaten back by the first mouthful, so I snapped up all the semi-crisp globs of fat like a greedy gannet. Absolute heaven. Just for purposes of note-keeping though, a good reason not to binge-eat lamb fat could be heard at midnight, in the whimper: 'I feel really sick: please don't let me do that again!'.

january gaps

Some photos and some mid-afternoon leafing through my cook books, reminded me of things I meant to keep a note of.

New Year's Eve saw us imbing the most gorgeous half-bottle of rioja (Monte real 2003) and finishing a particularly warming chicken and chorizo stew. I hope I made mention somewhere of how much better the 'hot' paprika is than the 'sweet' version in this warm-spicy dish.

The next morning, after some preparatory cooking, we took a brisk walk on the heath. There was powder snow, hard ground and hundreds of people out walking their dogs and children. We were back home at the time of light fading for an early evening meal of lamb shanks with figs and honey: a real feast, albeit a little too sweet for my liking. I would love to re-make it in a different way, however if it doesn't improve then it will be relegated to the bench. The gent paired it with this wine, pictured, a very special 1978 vintage (not just a good year for wine - !). Although I was terrifically excited to have the chance to try such a wine, it wouldn't be top of my list to buy again.


Epiphany is an occasion I don't have a family blue-print method of celebrating, food-wise, so I borrow without shame from other countries. Here is the galette des rois I made to mark the day:
A twenty pence piece took place of the charm, hidden inside the frangipane. Perhaps it is just me, but I felt the office momentarily forgot it was post-Christmas January and were genuinely intrigued. Lesley was King for the day and wore the crown for longer than the mere polite person would. Good egg! Anun H-C sent a message to say that next year I should try the Spanish 'Roscon de Reyes' - something I already look forward to.

Another high point in January is the gent's birthday. This is the Guiness cake I made:











We took a long, cold, birthday-related Saturday walk, taking in disused spa-fields, the TV-residence of Poirot and the Barbican. Afterwards we were cold and hungry and this miso, chilli noodle soup spiced us up very well: