It's hot, sticky work, but someone's got to do it. It's January, and after a brief respite over New Year, during which I fully recovered from seasonal baking burnout (all that gingerbread!), I'm impatient to get on with things: things involving … [Read more...]
January’s citrus rituals II: spremuti
Simplify, simplify. At least once a winter, you owe it to yourself to squeeze some fresh citrus for an exquisite drink that can make you feel instantly grateful to be alive. As January rituals go, this is a joyously straightforward one that … [Read more...]
Mushrooms make a meal
I've always loved that early part of Lord of the Rings when the hobbits are still in the Shire, walking and singing their way past familiar places before things get scary. The transition is that tense scene when they cross Farmer Maggot's fields to … [Read more...]
I used to cook in a piggery
I used to cook in a piggery. That’s what I called it, though the students who lived there didn’t know this. I cooked two meals a day for 40 undergraduates of a well-known California university who lived in a falling-down house, back in the days … [Read more...]
Afternoon tea of a faun
Since living in England these many years, I have come to appreciate the ritual of afternoon tea, be it a simple cup of "the vital Oolong" (to quote Bertie Wooster), an indulgent cream tea at a pretty spot on holiday, or the overpriced … [Read more...]
Apricots, les abricots
Back to the beginning I remember sitting on the backsteps under a punitive August sun, basting a rock, pretending it was a roast. When I go deeper into this memory I discover a backdrop of listlissness and loneliness, but the foreground was … [Read more...]