The Botanical Kitchen
Recipes, travel and the occasional rant
A couple of weeks ago I met two really cool gents who are half of a really quirky, new coffee company – Black Sheep Coffee. They are hoping to delight coffee connoisseurs and ‘shake up the coffee scene in the UK’ where cool independent coffee outlets are springing up faster than the weeds in my allotment. […]
It’s not every day that the postman brings a package from Buckingham Palace so there was much excitement in our household when this delightful book arrived. The Royal Cookbook by Mark Flanagan and Edward Griffiths Over 50,000 people visit Buckingham palace as guests of Her Royal Highness Queen Elizabeth for State banquets, lunches, dinners, receptions […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 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 […]
The definition of ‘shopping’ is ‘the purchase of goods from shops’. Hmmm. I think that pretty much sums it up. With children in tow and work schedules I usually know what I want to buy, go into a specific shop and buy it – matching this definition pretty well. But it’s also a wonderful passtime […]
I paid little attention to World Book Day before I had children but as they started nursery and now school, it’s become a big thing in or house. They have always worn a costume from their favourite book. We’ve gone from princesses, to wizards, Gruffalos to robots. It’s all a bit of fun. World Book […]
I have had a bottle of Maille’s ubiquitous Dijon mustard on my shelf for as long as I can remember. It goes into salad dressings and that’s about it. I had never really thought about using it in anything else. And then I went to the Maille boutique in Paris (a little sidetracking from my […]
I really dislike sweeteners. I dislike the rubbish E things they contain. I dislike the aftertaste. I dislike the consistency. I’ve therefore always stuck to sugar because at least I know what that contains and can moderate my usage accordingly. That being said, I think I’ve found a sweetener that challenges each of those […]
I was invited to The Walmsley Restaurant in Berkshire recently to take a look at this new restaurant housed within the beautiful grounds of Audley Inglewood retirement village. It’s an impressive building rebuilt to replicate the original which was in disrepair. The insides have also been restored and styled to take guests and residents on […]
This book starts with a chapter entitled ‘From Kazakhstan to Kent’ so I was immediately drawn in. What on earth could have originated in Kazakhstan and then made it’s way to Kent? I learned that genetically this would be the apple. Yes indeed. Kent’s heritage may well be its orchards but genetic science has determined […]