Apple-rosemary coffee cake
“There’s rosemary, that’s for remembrance.” (Hamlet, iv. 5.) Rosemary divides people. Not quite like cilantro does (word on the street is that some peoples’ taste buds are *different* and that cilantro tastes like soap to them), but still, if you say the word ‘rosemary’ there is a group of people (I call them, originally enough, [...]
Santa Rosa Plum and Basil Jam
(…on basil. and India. and opening.) Lots of things are sacred in India. Cows are sacred, milk is sacred, moments are sacred, life is sacred, and basil, most definitely, is considered sacred. The most potent varieties are referred to as ‘holy basil’, and a Hindu household is considered incomplete without a little plant somewhere. I [...]
Elderberry Chutney
(in which I get a bit bossy) Gathering with friends is only fun if its an enhancement of gathering alone. Because alone, gathering is a holy experience. You sink into a rhythm, a quiet calm. Snip, pluck, drop, move, repeat. That rhythm becomes a background humm, that turns into a moving meditation. By the time [...]
Rhubarb-almond tart
We’ve been busy round here. Next Wednesday is my 30th birthday, and we’re throwing a Dia De Los Muertos party in the back yard. I basically wanted to recreate the graveyard in San Miguel De Allende that we spent my birthday in last year, and I’m one of those annoying people who will try and [...]
Pickled Watermelon Rinds
I like watching people test for good watermelons, because it makes them look crazy. I know this, because I do it, and people look at me like I’m crazy. I learned the knocking technique from an Israeli woman who claimed to be the ‘queen of vegetables’, who would bustle around the grocery store, knocking on [...]
Blackberry and elderflower mojitos
I’ve been getting into this whole ‘drinking’ thing lately. I’m not a big drinker in general, usually- I mean, 4oz beer is enough to make me start acting very silly. Last time I had 2 beers I think I danced on a table. And the last time I had 3 beers I actually threw up [...]
Lemon pudding cake
I hope you don’t mind another lemon recipe. They might be rolling out while they’re still in season. I’ll try not to wax poetic this time, since I’ve made my feelings abundantly clear. This pudding cake looks complicated. I mean, it IS complicated, but it’s also super easy. You mix everything together, then fold in [...]
Blood orange panna cotta.
Jam and I were woken at 2am by screaming last Saturday night, the night before we were to leave on a ski trip. Our neighbour, Daisy, was coming home from a party, and saw sparks flying from the back garden– she went to see what it was, and the back quarter of the garden was [...]
Lemon marmalade
My first experiment with marmalade started and ended 2 years ago. I was really into fermenting things at the time, and decided that, better than regular old marmalade was FERMENTED MARMALADE. Of course all of this was at the prompting of Jam, who loves marmalade (somewhere, under that handsome face and messy hair is an [...]
The best tart ever
It’s so common in the UK to see apples and blackberries together. They’re kind of a perfect combination. Alone, they’re great, but together, there’s this magical alchemy that makes you wonder if there maybe is some kind of design behind this whole existence thing. Yeah, I know… the human body is amazing, the complexities of [...]
