Birthday goodness

Two books The River Cottage Fish Book and Ottolenghi: The Cookbook. Both look absolutely awesome and I can tell will get a lot of use. I have found my River Cottage Meat Book indispensable over the past year, and with eight weeks off this summer am looking forward to catching as much with my fishing rod as possible!

Also, last night we went out to have dinner at Ottolenghi in Islington with my Dad and Aunty Stella - it was so good, I highly recommend it. The food was delicious, (washed down with a particularly fine Sancerre I might add) and I also loved the fact that the atmosphere was relaxed: it made for a very lovely meal had by all. I did actually take my camera, but like all good meals when it came down to taking pics I thought "Sod that, I'm eating!"

There you go, one very good reason why I am no good at restaurant reviews: too gushy by far. And so, looking forward to the continuation of birthday goodness this evening amongst friends at the Royal Oak. Hurrah.

the first mackerel of the summer

Went fishing again this weekend in Weymouth, and David and I managed to catch a couple of dozen mackerel between us - surprising for this time of year, but I'm certainly not complaining!

A note on my Mother

She's alive and well... I hope to bake my first loaf tomorrow (today = Friday) - cannot help but rub my hands in glee. I've been lifting the tea towel off the top for hourly checks on her progress! Looking good mah man - looking gooooood!

BBQ Good-ness

Our first BBQ of the season - and bloody brilliant it was too if you don't mind me saying so: black bream, haloumi, red pepper, courgettes and salad (all veggies via Growing Communities) all washed down with a bottle of rosé. Lovely job.

On having expensive taste...

David has commented on numerous occasions over the past year or so that we are, in fact, food snobs. I have always re-buffed such claims, suggesting instead that there is nothing wrong with wanting good, honest food. The majority of the time this means I end up undertaking a degree of culinary experimentation, however it also means that from time to time I spend ridiculous amounts of money of things I do not yet have the means to make (such as cheese and wine).

The upshot of this is that the problem with expensive taste is the amount of money you end up spending, particularly when you like drinking half-decent French red wine. So... having just had a little snoop around the St. John site I was overjoyed to discover that not only do they have two fine restaurants - they also have an online wine shop. It looks all too tempting, and better yet, affordable!

Dear readers, I shall investigate very soon!

[the pic used above of course, comes courtesy of their site]

Pleased to eat you

I have a great food swap going on at the moment. A friend of mine loves fishing, and goes regularly to the reservoirs by Walthamstow Marshes. He catches more trout than he knows what to do with.... but luckily also has a penchant for croissants with jam (can you see where this is leading?) Anyway, we've got a trout for jam deal - suits me just fine! This is the second of the season - yum :)

Small problemo...

In announcing my boycott following a recent price hike on sourdough bread I was perhaps a little hasty... have just looked at what's required to make one loaf of bread, and it sounds like it needs an awful lot of babysitting and attention. Fine in the school holidays, but perhaps not too practical for your morning toast... darn it. Still, it has also been pointed out that there is a potential gap in the market for some healthy competition ;)

Still, day 2 of the Mother and all appears to be ok - it looks suitably disgusting and I'm guessing by the bubbles that fermentation has begun!

On another homemade enterprise note - elderflower season starts soon - better order some citric acid.