The Botanical Kitchen
Recipes, travel and the occasional rant
There are work dinners and then there are work dinners. This one is probably one of the most memorable as it all formed part of my birthday week festivities. Not only did we have our meeting in the beautiful city of Milan but we were privileged to meet some incredible people from Italy’s leading brands. […]
Now I thought I would be the absolute last person in the world to be writing about Starbucks on my blog. Having run an independent coffee shop for a number of years I really do try to avoid Starbucks like the plague. The coffee is usually very badly made in the UK and far too […]
Maison Marou was one of the first stops on our recent trip to Vietnam. Recommended by the fabulous London based chocolate expert Jennifer Earle, it was up high on the list. About Marou Chocolate If you are not familiar with Marou Chocolate, then it’s well worth taking a look at some of their videos which will […]
The wonderful thing about jet lag when you visit the US is that you’re up and out by 5am. Why is this wonderful I hear you ask? Well picture this. You’ve spent hours researching places to eat in the city you’re visiting and then you make it there only to find they are fully booked […]
When you Google ‘city of love’ you’d expect Verona to be high up there on the list. It’s not. It’s not even on the list. Truth be told it was never really on my list until last summer and even then, it only made my first point of call because I have always wanted to […]
Every other year we have a driving holiday. It’s a little compromise I have with my husband who cannot bear to fly. This summer it was a whirlwind drive from Calais, via Eurotunnel, to Strasbourg to Lucerne to Verona to Venice to Milan to Engelberg to Calais and then home. In just over a week! The […]
Truth be told I had not planned much time in Miami. The high rises and gritty crime scenes in many a movie and TV show really didn’t leave me wanting to spend time in the city. For us it was a convenient stop down from Orlando to Key West and so we’d booked just two nights. […]
The first step towards planning our annual holidays is to buy the relevant Lonely Planet. We are still pretty independant travellers despite now having two tweens in tow and it’s still the only guide book that lets us get away from the usual packages and tourist trails. The second step is flicking through the Lonely […]
Idly flicking through my Twitter feed over New Year I came across an article entitled Top 10 Countries to Visit In 2016. I never pass up travel inspiration so I scrolled down the list and was surprised to discover Wales noted at number 8. I always forget Wales is a separate country. It’s just 2 motorways […]
The first time I visited Thailand I left out Ayutthaya – the ancient and majestic city of ruins which lies just north of Bangkok. It was one of my biggest regrets. 18 years on during my second visit to the country it was an absolute must do on my already enormous must do list. Although Ayutthaya is just a […]
Those of you who read this blog regularly will know that I love taking a look behind the scenes of food producers and places. I was therefore so excited when I received an invitation from Borderfields Rapeseed Oil and Hammond Produce to visit their Innovation Garden in Nottinghamshire. The day started with some cooking demonstrations […]
“Would you like to join a special tour at Warner Brothers Studios?” they said. “Would you like to see a preview of the new exhibition showcasing the sweet treats created for the Harry Potter movies” they continued. “Of course do bring your girls” they concluded. So that was that. We zoomed across to Watford after the […]