My coffee of choice these days is made and poured (or rather, crafted and sculpted with panache) by the friendly Umberto at Sacred.
I had been to this coffee stall a few times over the years and thought it good, but was often with a friend and in need of a seat. Most usually, a seat out of the wind, rain or snow. However this summer has been glorious, the flat white has sprung up all over London - even in the dark recesses of corporate brands like Costa - and one fine day Melly Bo took me back to Sacred... and I got hooked on their perfectly balanced, strong coffee.
For those who like to sit down, maybe have a muffin with their coffee, then Sacred also have drink-in cafes; I have noted their location and am reassured that should I be persuaded to the Westfield centre, then at least I can get a good coffee to keep my spirits up!
Thursday 5 August 2010
Tuesday 3 August 2010
cold war stores
It is always the least glamorous foods that get to me. My new fad? Tinned tuna.
Last week I had it in oil (which I didn't drain off, just lifted it, dripping, onto the plate) with olives, avocado, a squeeze of lime, and salad from the veg box - a little stump of cucumber, a few leaves of curly lettuce. This week's version is tuna in brine, as it's shopping basket neighbours were sweetcorn and mayonnaise: this combo can be a bit greasy with tuna in oil, but perfect when from brine. The addition of baby gems and avocado takes it to the passe side of retro - but also raises the nutritional value, too.
Of course when I say sweetcorn, I mean tinned ... in fact, my bag was pretty heavy as there were also cannellini beans in there. I don't mean to start a rush on tined goods, but the stack next to my work desk makes it look like I have received notice of a possible 3-minute warning - as my Mother recalls it, from the fifties or sixties.
But we live in more peaceful times and can enjoy tinned food on its own merits. Humble, yes, but very delicious.
Last week I had it in oil (which I didn't drain off, just lifted it, dripping, onto the plate) with olives, avocado, a squeeze of lime, and salad from the veg box - a little stump of cucumber, a few leaves of curly lettuce. This week's version is tuna in brine, as it's shopping basket neighbours were sweetcorn and mayonnaise: this combo can be a bit greasy with tuna in oil, but perfect when from brine. The addition of baby gems and avocado takes it to the passe side of retro - but also raises the nutritional value, too.
Of course when I say sweetcorn, I mean tinned ... in fact, my bag was pretty heavy as there were also cannellini beans in there. I don't mean to start a rush on tined goods, but the stack next to my work desk makes it look like I have received notice of a possible 3-minute warning - as my Mother recalls it, from the fifties or sixties.
But we live in more peaceful times and can enjoy tinned food on its own merits. Humble, yes, but very delicious.
morsels
So much to say, so little time, such a broken lap top!
So a lunch-break blog, squeezed in. This will do the past week no justice, unfortunately, but...
Felicity Cloake was talking about chocolate mousse recipes on the Guardian 'Word of Mouth' recently: a satisfyingly thorough exploration of different recipes, concluding in Elizabeth David's being crowned the winner. Must remember to pass on the vegan-friendly recipe for Liz - or even better, cook it for her.
I am trying to catch up on reading all the new blogs I find at the 'UK Food Bloggers Association' (UKfba to make life easier) - of which I am now a member. I have no home computer at the moment so am frustrated in this effort. I love blogs and the window onto other peoples lives they offer: so many industrious people out there, running pubs, raising families, selling ham - and all finding time to write about it. As soon as I am back online properly I will post links to some!
Excellent food in my 'summer house': I am being kindly put up by three men for the summer and my goodness they have a good time! Post-work Monday evening saw Prosecco, hummus and bread, fried chorizo... then chicken fajitas and, my offering, passion fruit pavlova. All this and it was only Monday - imagine what meals will be like come the weekend!
A wonderful meal at 'Fig' in north London with friends. Cosy, charming with lovely staff and great food. I recall, only sketchily: smoked scallop with gooseberry jelly, burnt butter sauce and some herb (the gent won out with heavenly sweetbreads) ; then we all had the stuffed quail (?) with girolles, a paste of roasted onions and divine bits and bobs. We should really have thought to order some sides of vegetables and potatoes; instead the gent and I were left with room for both dessert (meringue, strawberries, ice cream - all delicately put together) and a cheese courses. The cheese was really wonderful - two from Sussex, which warmed my heart - and the big debate was whether to have cheese before or after dessert. What would you do? The gent and I chose differently according to our own taste. The waitress allied herself with my view, but my sister, more kindly, suggested the gent preferred the 'French style'. The boys chose a really excellent wine, I would trust them with the wine menu any day.
A seminar on trends in the food industry, held at the ever-superb British Library (this time in the IP and Business centre). I wrote pages of notes and whipped myself up into a frenzy of enthusiasm for starting a business. Most encouraging was that if asked what I thought beforehand, I would have loosely been along the right lines in predicting trends, and I also knew of many of the businesses and Web 2.0 technologies that were talked about. A bit more clued up than I thought - phew. My only furrowed brow came about dropping trends: there was no mention about arriving late and getting in on something already oversubscribed. Many of the trends mentioned - locally sourced foods, novelty or pop up restaurants / bars / etc. have already gone mainstream making the small, unpolished late-start-up less likely to thrive. In my completely uninformed opinion -!
22nd July 2010
So a lunch-break blog, squeezed in. This will do the past week no justice, unfortunately, but...
Felicity Cloake was talking about chocolate mousse recipes on the Guardian 'Word of Mouth' recently: a satisfyingly thorough exploration of different recipes, concluding in Elizabeth David's being crowned the winner. Must remember to pass on the vegan-friendly recipe for Liz - or even better, cook it for her.
I am trying to catch up on reading all the new blogs I find at the 'UK Food Bloggers Association' (UKfba to make life easier) - of which I am now a member. I have no home computer at the moment so am frustrated in this effort. I love blogs and the window onto other peoples lives they offer: so many industrious people out there, running pubs, raising families, selling ham - and all finding time to write about it. As soon as I am back online properly I will post links to some!
Excellent food in my 'summer house': I am being kindly put up by three men for the summer and my goodness they have a good time! Post-work Monday evening saw Prosecco, hummus and bread, fried chorizo... then chicken fajitas and, my offering, passion fruit pavlova. All this and it was only Monday - imagine what meals will be like come the weekend!
A wonderful meal at 'Fig' in north London with friends. Cosy, charming with lovely staff and great food. I recall, only sketchily: smoked scallop with gooseberry jelly, burnt butter sauce and some herb (the gent won out with heavenly sweetbreads) ; then we all had the stuffed quail (?) with girolles, a paste of roasted onions and divine bits and bobs. We should really have thought to order some sides of vegetables and potatoes; instead the gent and I were left with room for both dessert (meringue, strawberries, ice cream - all delicately put together) and a cheese courses. The cheese was really wonderful - two from Sussex, which warmed my heart - and the big debate was whether to have cheese before or after dessert. What would you do? The gent and I chose differently according to our own taste. The waitress allied herself with my view, but my sister, more kindly, suggested the gent preferred the 'French style'. The boys chose a really excellent wine, I would trust them with the wine menu any day.
A seminar on trends in the food industry, held at the ever-superb British Library (this time in the IP and Business centre). I wrote pages of notes and whipped myself up into a frenzy of enthusiasm for starting a business. Most encouraging was that if asked what I thought beforehand, I would have loosely been along the right lines in predicting trends, and I also knew of many of the businesses and Web 2.0 technologies that were talked about. A bit more clued up than I thought - phew. My only furrowed brow came about dropping trends: there was no mention about arriving late and getting in on something already oversubscribed. Many of the trends mentioned - locally sourced foods, novelty or pop up restaurants / bars / etc. have already gone mainstream making the small, unpolished late-start-up less likely to thrive. In my completely uninformed opinion -!
22nd July 2010
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