The Botanical Kitchen
Recipes, travel and the occasional rant
“There was a table set out under a tree in front of the house, and the March Hare and the Hatter were having tea at it: a Dormouse was sitting between them, fast asleep, and the other two were using it as a cushion, resting their elbows on it, and talking over its head. `Very […]
I think the sun is staying out now. It’s been a bit hit and miss in London. It always is as the school holidays start but I’m watching it go down over the rooftops as we speak knowing it’s going to be another glorious day tomorrow. This is a good thing for my diet. A […]
Today my Muslim friends are celebrating Eid. The end of the month long fast of Ramadan. I’m in awe of these friends. In awe of their willpower and uncomplaining perseverance. They bring a sense of calm to the busy-ness of London. I remember visiting Dubai during Ramadan. The month of blessing fell at the same time […]
The first time I saw sorrel was at The Eden Project in the gift shop. A stunning red veined variety which tasted as beautiful as it looked. I promptly bought a plant which sits happily in my garden for infrequent nibbles. It’s so pretty I don’t want to take too many leaves off it for […]
I am ashamed to say that prior to a couple of weeks ago I had never really thought about the different varieties of UK ‘Early Potatoes’. I’d grouped them all under ‘New Potatoes’ which is to be honest the only variety I tend to see mass marketed in the supermarkets. Jersey Royales in the main. I’ve discovered a […]
How is it midsummer weekend already? In my part of London we’ve only just started getting those balmy sunny evenings. They have been so few that we’ve savoured each one til the last trickle of light fades behind the trees and the Salvation Army tower visible from that special corner of the garden. Of course […]
I tried my hand at growing broccoli last year. I ordered some seeds and put them in the propagator. Nada. Not even one little sprout. So as I was a little late to the party now, I planted some rather limp looking plants from the garden centre – six to be precise. I watered. I weeded and […]
There is a beast on my allotment. Something that’s nibbling at the few plants we have in the ground. This is what it’s done to our wonderful kale which is all but gone. With sowing season now fully underway, I decided to pull out the final scraps and rework the bed for something new. Rainbow chard […]
I’m not normally a gadget person in the kitchen. Sure I like to save time like everyone else but rather than some whizzy gizmo for peeling garlic for example, I prefer to get stuck in and peel it with my fingers. Having said that I do use a few machines to help get big jobs […]
Pancakes. They have become a Sunday ritual. It’s a weekend so porridge or cereal aren’t special enough. Somehow the Sunday breakfast deserves more attention. Deserves more time. But the warm bed, Sunday papers and my stack of new cookery books are calling and they deserve equal amounts of attention too after a long week. So the […]
My youngest daughter seems very excited about Valentine’s Day. She’s been talking about it all week. To her it’s all about ‘famgether’. This is a silly word our family made up one holiday. It means ‘family together’. Silly I know but it creeps into conversations when we haven’t seen each other consistently for a while. […]
It’s been almost Spring like today. I woke up before the sun and sat with a cup of tea watching it come up over the garden. A rare opportunity with children in the house. I’ve been distracted by the sky ever since. It’s been so vividly blue I couldn’t help stopping and staring out into […]