The Wednesday Tipple – Sidecars, 80’s advertising porn and celebrity gardeners

Sidecar cocktail illustration for cocktail recipe

Over Christmas when Jon and I were visiting his parents in Scotland, we were given the task of organizing all our stuff that was stored in their garage. We moved to New York with 2 suitcases, so literally everything else we own – sofas, bookcases, books, photo albums, cds, pots, pans, candle sticks, an air pop popcorn machine – is in familial garages, lofts and barns. Continue reading

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The Monday Treat – Kofte Meatballs and the music of food

Kofta meatball illustration for recipeInspired by necessity – taking 17 hours of Christmas Music off my iPod – I have been organizing my iTunes library. Out of this flurry of activity has come the Kitchen Music Playlist. Tag line: songs to cook to. Continue reading

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This Dinner will get you laid – Chicken with Puy Lentils, and the superstitions of New Yorkers

Don't walk signs for a winter recipe of chicken and lentils

Upon first impressions you may be fooled into thinking that New York is a highly rational place, rooted in the real. Real estate, real hard work, commerce, business – some guy was talking trash to a transvestite outside the Duplex the other night and she threw her shoe at his head. Serious, real stuff. Continue reading

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The Wednesday Tipple – French 75 and interpretive poetry rap – in homage to Gertrude Stein

Recipe illustration of French 75 cocktailsOur friends Hilary and Jeremy, inspired by Gertrude Stein’s famous Parisian artist salons, hosted a dinner where everyone had to stand up and do a turn, talk about their latest play or project, test run a new song, and generally be creative and fun. Continue reading

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The Monday Treat – Pear, Cranberry and Walnut Loaf Cake with Maple Glaze

The skeleton of the Christmas tree is out on the pavement waiting to be collected. The majority of the needles have been swept up, though we did find some in our bed this morning, which is frankly, a little curious. Anyway. It’s gone. The holidays are over. In spite of the unseasonably mild weather, January is beginning to bite in all kinds of insidious ways. Continue reading

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This Dinner will make taking down the tree suck less – Chicken Tagine for an epiphany feast

Epiphany Kings for Epiphany dinner party recipes

Today is epiphany. Time to take down the Christmas decorations, sweep up pine needles and surrender to the inevitable gloom that comes with the realization; the holidays are well and truly over now. Continue reading

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The Wednesday Tipple – Fig Martinis and an important question; what would you do if you knew that you could not fail?

Pistachio Fig Martini for Epiphany cocktail recipe

January is a time for reflection, resolution, change, expectation, tentative starts, running out of steam, postponement, utter failure, despair and drinking. A time when we make lists about the things we intend to change about ourselves and enumerate our shortcomings and flaws. A time when we grasp for inspiration and insight wherever we can find it. A time when quotations on mugs profoundly speak to us. Continue reading

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Penne with sausage and ricotta

Happy New Year and penne recipe

Back in New York on the cusp of a New Year brimming with possibilities, Jon and I headed more or less from the airport to a party in Brooklyn hosted by our friends Shea and Raphael with their adorable sausage dog James, dressed in a furry collar that jingled whenever he moved his head. Continue reading

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This Dinner Will Get You Laid – Chocolate Torte and how to avoid hosting accidental sex parties

Chocolate Torte illustration for recipe

New Years Eve is almost upon us. It’s a time to stop and reflect for a moment on the year gone by, the lessons learned, the things that we intend to do differently in the future. For my Aunty Jennifer, this mostly means not planting Pampas Grass in her front garden. Continue reading

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The Wednesday Tipple – the perfect cheese tray and port jelly

Port jelly illustration for Christmas Cocktail

Back in London, post Christmas family visiting road trip round the country, and with the prospect of being in the same bed for consecutive nights, thoughts turn firstly to drink, and then to New Years Eve and the celebration thereof.

This jelly ticks both boxes. Continue reading

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