The Botanical Kitchen
Recipes, travel and the occasional rant
I am a big fan of Seinfeld. It’s a silly US sitcom about the life of Jerry Seinfeld and his friends George, Elaine and Kramer. There is one episode in particular which makes me giggle even at the thought. It’s called ‘The Rye’ and the plot centres around a loaf of marble rye bread which […]
We are having unsettled weather in the UK at the moment and that means lots of allotment time. Either to sort out the mess after heavy rain or to bask in the sunshine while it lasts. This year, we’ve extended our allotment ever so slightly but chopping down all the nettle and bramble growth to the […]
We’ve gone a bit bonkers with the bean planting on the allotment this year. I have some runner beans of the firestorm variety which yield the vibrant red edible flowers which I am looking forward to almost more than the beans. I have various varieties of dwarf beans because I’ve discovered they grow quite happily in […]
Washoku – 和食 – is the name for traditional Japanese cuisine and has been added to UNESCO’s cultural heritage list. The Japanese are of course incredibly proud of this and earlier this year the Japanese Ambassador to the UK, Mr Keiichi Hayashi, declared 2014 to be the ‘Year of Washoku’. There is an exhibition at the […]
It’s Indian mango season. The season I look forward to the most. The season that makes me salivate the most. The season I never tire of because I could eat my bodyweight in Indian mangoes and then perhaps your body weight too! They are beloved in my household and we usually buy dozens of boxes […]
Wine is my Friday night, my night on the town and my ‘I’ve-had-a-rough-day’ sigh of relief. Chocolate works too but I always have good wine in the house. I’m a grown up now and so the Matteus Rose, whilst still a beautiful bottle, just doesn’t cut it any more. I buy the bulk of my wine from […]
Sunny skies of late and unseasonably warm weather have seen trees come into bloom earlier this year. Spring blossoms almost pass us by without a second thought. This would never happen in Japan. Over there, it is customary to celebrate trees coming into flower and the season is currently in full swing. It’s ‘Hanami’ time. […]
Last week I received an intriguing parcel from Lurpak. It contained some flour, a bar of dark chocolate, a pack of Lurpak for baking and two leaflets enticing me to go create! The pack is part of a new campaign they have launched called #FoodAdventures which sees some new products designed to speed things up in […]
I’ve been a huge fan of Paul A Young since he opened his first shop in London in 2006. The flavours of his chocolates always create a sense of intrigue and live up to their descriptions. My favourite is still the Margarita which I had at his Wardour Street store about two years ago. Every […]
I was recently invited to learn about a new chocolate delivery service called Cocoa Runners. This is no ordinary delivery service The concept is pretty simple. You choose to pay monthly or quarterly, or indeed as a one off treat, and receive a box of chocolates. But unlike some others, the box fits through your […]
Have you noticed that alongside the daffodils that seem to be everywhere, there are also bursts of yellow from dandelions? They too are so pretty and brighten up banks of green in our lovely city of London – or the suburbs in my case. Like many, I’ve disregarded these these plants. Sunny and cheerful as […]
I felt rather sad for the onion this week. I was in a falafel shop ordering my lunch. As part of the salad there are onions and as I was returning to work after lunch I asked the young man to leave them out. I didn’t want to be smelly (or indeed make smells!). He […]