Posted in British, Garlic, Jamie Oliver, Meat, Mexican, Olive Oil, Recipe, Recipes, Spain, Squid, calamari, chile, chipotle, easy, fish, food, grilled, grilling, lemon, morcilla, onions, parsley, racione, sauce, sausage, savory, seafood, spicy, tapas, tomato on Jun 4th, 2008
A lot of people love Jamie Oliver for his informal, cheekie-chappie attitude and antics, which they welcome as a nice break from the seemingly unapproachable TV chefs of the past. Personally, I find his mockney styles and instant familiarity grating, and have let this issue influence my opinion of his cooking. However, I’m big enough […]
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Posted in British, Recipes, baking, brown sugar, butter, craisins, cranberries, easy, family, flapjacks, food, honey, oats, sugar, tradition on May 22nd, 2008
Great minds think alike and fools never differ. So they say. I’m certainly not a great mind, and our good friend Pixie at You Say Tomato is no fool, but we happened to make flapjacks around the same time a few weeks back. Pixie got her recipe and pics up smartly while we dallied, and […]
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Posted in British, Delia Smith, England, Food Commentary, Food Network, culture, entertainment, food, philosophy, television show on Mar 12th, 2008
So, the headline above might be slightly hyperbolic, but the sentiment I’m trying to convey is very real and serious. Last night, UK TV cooking legend, Delia Smith’s new show Delia premiered on BBC2 and instead of garnering the rave reviews virtually every one of her previous series have, this one has been roundly panned, […]
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So, erm, well, ok, let’s face it, we all like a drink now and again, and unfortunately, now and again, we have one too many. This weekend was one of those occasions where we over-indulged. In fact, it was one of the increasingly rare occasions when we went out two nights on the run - […]
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Posted in British, England, Europe, French, Garlic, asparagus, batter, crepes, dessert, easy, egg, flour, food, juice, lemon, milk, mushrooms, orange juice, pancakes, salmon, sauce, tarragon, tomato, tradition on Feb 9th, 2008
In the British calendar the final Tuesday before Lent is known as “Shrove Tuesday”, though it’s more often referred to as “pancake day” in modern times. The derivation of the word “shrove” is unclear but it is thought to be derived from “shriving” or asking forgiveness for sins, a typical Christian activity on this day.
As […]
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Posted in British, England, Garlic, Recipe, Recipes, bisto, butter, easy, egg, entertainment, flour, food, gravy, kale, milk, mushy peas, onions, sausage, toad in the hole, tradition on Jan 28th, 2008
In his extremely witty book, French Lessons, Peter Mayle attends the annual Fete de Grenouilles (Festival of Frogs-Legs) in Vittel, France, and describes an instance at the festival banquet in which the, perhaps, unusual French habit of eating frogs was turned on its head by a fellow festival attendee when she asked him, shuddering, if […]
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Posted in Asian, British, England, New York City, Pub, Recipe, Recipes, South Africa, alcohol, alcoholic drink, culture, drink, easy, embarrassment, food, ginger, history, honey, hot toddy, juice, lemon, red bush, rooibos, rooibosh, sugar, tea, tradition, water, weather on Jan 22nd, 2008
It’s freezing here in New York. Freezing! Yesterday, it didn’t get above 26F/-3C. Just the kind of weather when you need something to warm (as they say in London’s East End) the cockles of your heart. Years ago, on a freezing January day I took a walk with a friend around Alexandra Palace in north […]
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Posted in British, England, Food Commentary, France, French, bread, butter, culture, food, restaurant, tradition on Dec 19th, 2007
According to an exceedingly poorly written article on MSN UK today, the UK’s favorite food (as voted by 50,000 members of the public) is, guess what? No, not bangers, not mash, not fish, chips, or mushy peas. Neither is it roast beef or Yorkshire pudding, spotted dick or trifle, nor is it, to my great […]
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Posted in British, England, Europe, Food Commentary, Manchester, Pub, ale, beer, culture, drink, food, important details, television show, travel on Nov 30th, 2007
So, as the beautifully illustrated post by my wife (see below) attests, we were recently in the UK, and spent a good portion of that trip inside pubs enjoying traditional pub food and cask-conditioned, hand-pulled ales.
I describe the beers in this way for a reason. You see, the old joke that Americans never seem to […]
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