The Botanical Kitchen
Recipes, travel and the occasional rant
I’m a sucker for cheese. It’s my absolute vice. As soon as I get the nibbles I reach for the cheese. In restaurants, I find myself pondering skipping the mains and going for the dessert and cheese courses instead. My palette has developed from the mild Cheddars and Bries to the oozy Camemberts and even the […]
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. […]
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 […]
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 introduced to this lovely honey at a foodie event last year. I had it on a salty cracker with some lovely manchego type cheese. It was incredibly memorable and incredibly moreish.Pasilla Oaxaca Chillies The honey uses Pasilla Oaxaca chillies from the Oaxaca region of Mexico which is about five hours from the Pacific […]
A few months ago at The BBC Good Food Show, I was invited to meet the Barber family and learn about their cheddar. I’m a sucker for good British produce and even more of a sucker for family businesses so I could not resist. I was greeted warmly by three lovely gents from the Barber […]
I’m starting to feel the excesses of Christmas and all this dreary drizzle has really put me off going outside for fresh air and exercise. I’m inspired by all the raw food posts and detox meals but I still find myself drawn to baking, cups of tea and a good book by the fire. That […]
It’s becoming a ritual attending BBC Good Food Show to shop for Christmas presents to myself and meet up with fellow Great British Bake Off Contestants. This year we had tea with Paul, Mary in the very specially created Great British Bake Off Tea Party Garden. My girls are still big fans of the show […]
Half term week was wet, windy and miserable. Except the day my girls descended on Yeo Valley. It was a gloriously sunny day and we had been invited to have a go at The National Trust’s ‘50 things to do before you‘re 11 ¾’ activities. The collaboration is running until January and you simply pick up […]