Shoot Bafta - Clue E I can't remember what the clue was, I think it was related to 'PG' ratings of films...B & I interpreted it this way -which is oh so creative, non?

We were going to buy a box of tea bags and then make the word film, but decided to instead empty the shelves and make the word out of the the PG Tips tea boxes. We did this in a busy Tesco in Covent Garden amongst many stares from shoppers and staff, luckily they didn't tell us to stop or kick us out, but we were quick as! PG Tips is the great British Tea consumed by the majority here, the company started in 1869 and is still going strong.

I think the winning photo was of a PG Tips tea bag in the foreground and a naked couple kissing in the church gardens (there is a lovely church behind the Piazza) in the background of the pic. I guess they won for their fancy camera work, a risqué pose and being naked, somehow, always gets you noticed by the judges!

Bafta sponsored the Shoot event the day of the awards ceremony and the photo treasure hunt ended in Covent Garden's Piazza. We didn't win a prize for any of our photos but am sure it was a tough choice between ours and the winners ;)

Members only MayfairVisited Morton’s of Mayfair for work - completely refurbished in 2004, Morton’s sits amongst a successful portfolio of restaurants and bars owned by Marlon Abela. Abela’s portfolio of restaurants includes Michelin starred The Greenhouse and UMU in the UK, with the trendy A Voce and Gaia in New York and Connecticut.

Morton’s home is a townhouse overlooking the green of Berkeley Square. The place has had many lives, first as a home for a Victorian family in the 1800s, then as a casino and for the last 75 years as various private members’ clubs.

First-rate service, partnered with a relaxed atmosphere, best illustrates what Morton’s is all about. Members are treated with such care that one can do nothing but relax, sip a cocktail and admire some of the fabulous artwork in the Grade II listed building – there are Matisse acquatints in the main dining room and Julian Opie portraits adorn the main bar - I love Opie’s work! I walk by it every day in the Ernst and Young building.

All staff including the head chef, lively and entertaining general manager and the extremely knowledgeable and cute sommeliers have been trained at the finest establishments around the world, so you feel very taken care of. Their wine list, has over 2,500 wines on it - we nicknamed it, ‘the Bible’, as it is so large; there are wines on there from the year 1875?!

D & I had a great time and met some interesting members who happened to be extreme wine fanatics. We got to sample some of their 1990 L’Extravagant De Doisy-Daene dessert wine, which tasted heavenly with a honey flavour that was absolutely divine! Find a member to take you for dinner or a drink it is a relaxed place to sip a cocktail and people watch.

Music & food don't mix
Dinner at the 1940s themed Pigalle Club for PM's bday. Food was nothing to write home about but the atmosphere and music was great. You feel like you have been transported back in time and the details from the decor to the staff's uniforms make you think Fred Astaire would soon come waltzing on the stage to perform. There is a great calendar of events ranging from burlesque shows to the house band performing.Miso and sesame tuna starterI had the lime and asparagus risotto with rocket, which had a strange taste/spice that I couldn't put my finger on. Why is rocket added to everything now? It used to be a weed that we were forced to eat as kids and now it is so cool and chic and found on top of everything from pizza to risotto. I forgot what we call it in Sicily -arugula? will have to ask Momma Dolce - it is just so sour!

And the Pigalle does not have side plates, which I always think is weird as when you are served bread and butter - where do you butter it, directly on the table? And if you want to put it down to have a sip of wine - do you put it on the table? That is what we had to do which I think is gross.

Some places can't do food and music well, case in point - went to Ronnie Scott's famous jazz bar in Soho the other night and Zeff who is a jazz freak said that you go to these places to ONLY enjoy the music, not the food. He said the only people that eat there are tourists or people who don't know that the food is sh*t. Music is the focus, which I guess could be said for the Pigalle, which is fair enough but give a diner somewhere to put their bread!
Rob just came back from a few weeks in India with some sickness that killed his taste buds so it was only Dan the Builder and PM who enjoyed their food. I ate when I got home.

Life is like a box of chocolates....You never know what you're going to get. Had a crappy day today and thought of two things:

1. Forrest Gump's saying - Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you are gonna get (so true!)
2. When life hands you a lemon - make lemonade (as there is nothing else you can do, non?)

A few friends made me smile this evening and while was moping along the street this morning, on the way to the tube I saw the Queen's horses doing their morning trot along Elgin Avenue.

The sight of those horses and carriages and the young soldiers on them always makes me smile like crazy - I don't know why but I think it is the sound (you can hear them coming far before they arrive), strength and beauty of the horses and the smiling faces of the riders (not a bad job to have each morning - trotting through London on a horse!) I sometimes stop and just take a snap with my camera phone. Anyhow that brings me to the chocolate reference above and the Queen.

There is a new chocolate made by the Queen's chocolatiers called Prestat - eating 2 squares a day can give you enough antioxidants that you need. It is true as the press release comes with a whole other page of studies and tests carried out on this magic chocolate. Ain't no need for Madonna to give you a shot of B12 up your arse, just have some chocolate!From the PR for Choxi- Alternatively, you could eat more than 1lb (0.46kg) of Brussels sprouts or over 5lbs (2.3kg) of apples! It is available nationwide from larger Tesco stores. Weight for weight, Choxi+ dark chocolate contains almost 20 times as many antioxidants as blueberries.

It tastes good too! Somehow it has not broke into mainstream media but am sure once it does it will fly off the shelves. Lemonade recipe to come another day that I am feeling miserable!

Is farming cool?

I only ever heard one person our age say that the only thing he ever wanted to do was farm. Does anyone else our age feel this way?

I would love to try farming but does our generation even know how? And what does farming entail as a lifestyle/profession? It's really pretty from the inside of a car driving along but once you stop and get out the reality of the smell and hard work may discourage many.

My friend Bergy inherited a farm in Wales from an elderly couple and he is loving life away from the city but also admitted to feeling removed from everyone else. You can see my previous post on my visit there and his cute mug here.

I wonder if any of us could go to an opposite life and thrive? Would we miss our hectic lifestyle or delve into country life and fall in love with it. My desire would be to have a lavender farm but not sure where to start. My current professor has one and I just think it would be ideal to work / write from a lovely piece of land where your lavender was flourishing outside your window. Well am adding that to the list to look into.

The pic is Ammo's take on cool farming fashion! We love these wellies which have been worn to posh places around London and to music festivals. Going to Wales again to see Bergy so will give you another update on how his farming adventures are going. Will have to pack these lovely red boots if Rexi is not wearing them to her anniversary dinner. Will bring some free range eggs home!

Hot cross bunsV. interesting - always wondered why hot cross buns emerged around Easter.

The cross in a hot cross bun signifies the Crucifiction. As this took place on Good Friday, it is considered lucky to eat these buns on Good Friday. Also, it is said that if you hang one in your
home, the building will be protected from bad luck or fire.

It's Palm Sunday next Sunday. Nobody really eats the palms :)

Source: The Cooks Pocket Companion - love this little book!

Food warsAn interesting poster exhibition at the Imperial War Museum entitled, Weapons of Mass Communication. The posters range from war recruitment to pro and anti war messages along with posters about keeping war secrets and food rationing. The exhibition is very colorful and it is interesting to see how the different messages were conveyed by the posters.

Some via guilt, with recruitment posters showing a guilty looking father with his child reading a war hero booking and the child asking, ‘Daddy how come you didn’t go to war?’ and another poster about keeping war secrets, the imagery was a pretty woman and two army generals speaking candidly about the war beside her at a posh bar. The caption read something to the effect - be careful what you say as pretty women can also be smart and give away war secrets to the enemy, they don't just smile and have no brains?!

The food ones were interesting as there were huge campaigns for people to grow their own food during rationing and how not to waste food and make it last. They should enforce a rationing system again and it would be interesting to see how many people plant stuff in their gardens and get thinking about how much food they waste!
I read something about the weekly rations and at times it was pretty limited. I can see how our grandparents were very frugal as living on a tiny lump of butter a week really made you precious about all that you had.

Butter, bacon and sugar were the first goods to be rationed in January 1940 followed by meat and preserves in March 1940, tea, margarine and cooking fats in July 1940 and cheese in 1941. Sugar, bacon, butter, cheese and cooking fats were rationed by weight and the relevant ration coupons entitled the customer to buy a given weight. The museum even has war time cookbooks which outlined how to use rations to feed your family. It must have been an interesting time to live in.

The rationing system seemed complicated but it made sense as vegetarians could swap their meat coupons for more fats and fruit while manual and agricultural workers were allowed an extra piece of cheese ration and pregnant women, children and the elderly were given more milk, eggs and fresh fruit allowances.

Perhaps a good test would be to live on a typical diet that was allocated via the rations during the war and see how we would fare today.

One-fifty


Wonderful hospitality and food on the Isle of Wight.

Staying at One-fifty B& B on the Isle of Wight was a delight. The owner Paula picked us up from the station and made us feel very welcome in her home. All the details were perfect from the fresh flowers in your room, the pretty handmade soaps in the toilet, the Egyptian cotton bathrobes and the lovely décor. You felt immediately at home and very comfortable. The weekend consisted of cycling, I didn’t realise how hilly the island was –I did walk up a few hills with bike in tow, eating – at the local pubs and restaurants and just enjoying the sunshine and slower pace of life.

Breakfast at 150 was divine with fresh strawberries and melon, yoghurt, muesli and a lovely selection of organic egg choices. Their lovely sun room is the perfect place to start your day and as you can see from the pics you get a delicious breakfast, freshly cooked. I highly recommend visiting the island and cycling around or walking some of the lovely coastal or inland paths, the hospitality can’t be beat and it is a short jaunt from London and just far enough to feel like you have been ‘away’.

Food proverb: Keep your breath to cool your porridge
Keep your breath to cool your porridge; meaning, keep your thoughts to yourself/mind your own business.

I read somewhere this week that some people can stave off hunger for 4 hours after a bowl of porridge, well for me I need to eat my lunch most days at 11am and that is after a bowl of porridge at around 9.30am!? Nicola can attest to this.

I am an eating machine lately in the mornings, maybe I need to snack before I go to bed?
I do love my porridge to be thick and 'glue like' - that is what someone called it when they came by my desk the other day and saw my porridge sitting very upright in the bowl.

Ten things banned in organic food

1. Aspartame - artificial sweetener (which makes everything taste too sickly sweet)
   
2. Genetic modification - which can cause allergic reactions (and makes your apples look like perfect specimens)
   
3. Herbicides - destroy the life of the soil
   
4. Hydrogenated fat - linked to heart disease
5. Monosodium glutamate (MSG) - bad for you all around, found in fast food and more
6. Phosphoric acid - linked to osteoporosis
7. Sulphur dioxide - can cause problems for asthmatics
8. Hormones- the level of artificial hormones in food and water can upset our individual levels
9. Artificial colorings - linked to hyperactivity in children
10. Artificial flavorings - why do we need them?

*why is any of this stuff in our food?! And if all of this stuff is added why is it more expensive to buy organic - wouldn't it mean less chemicals to buy?

Source: Cooks Pocket Companion, 2007
Pic: cropduster spraying pesticide, Wikipedia

Easy sweet potato soupAn easy and quick soup to make for a cold winter's day. You only need to chop things very roughly as at the end you just blend it up with a hand blender or a food processor. Have a big batch in the fridge and just had a bowl - so delicious. I usually only make it with potato but adding sweet potato completely changes the taste.

• Leeks - 1-2 stalks depending on how thick they are
• Potatoes - 1-2 regular sized (I only used a tiny one in this recipe)
• Sweet potatoes - 1-2 regular sized (as they are usually larger than potatoes
• 2 Onions
• Chili pepper to taste
• Salt and pepper to taste

Wash and chop up everything roughly (remember to peel the potatoes)
Throw into a pot cover it all with water and let boil.
After 20-30min test to see if your potatoes are cooked through to the core - if they are then voila your soup is ready.
Use a hand blender to blend it all together add salt, pepper and chili or other spices as you wish.
Serve with crusty bread.

So simple!

Pic of sweet potatoes, in NZ they call sweet potato Kumara (said Kumera) in the Excited States of America they call them yams.

Happy Saturday!

It warms the cockles of my heart

Had some very salty cockles at the newly renovated (well polished, as they couldn’t change much to this lovely listed building) Warrington Pub in Maida Vale. Mr. Gordon Ramsay now owns it and the service is spectacular and the staff are super friendly and attentive, sometimes an anomaly in this city!

The place has been scrubbed clean and the original glory of the pub restored – it looks great. We ordered the Honey Monster’s favourite wine, Montepulciano D’Abbruzzo and some salty cockles which didn’t go down a treat as they were very salty - it almost tasted like there was sand still inside them; not sure if you are supposed to eat them that way?! Will try the new restaurant upstairs soon and report back. Glad the local is back open for business!

Some info on the cockle:

• A cockle is the common name for tiny mollusc which looks like a mini clam. The shells they emerge out of are quite pretty usually in a heart shape and with distinctive ribbing.
• Cockles reproduce quickly and are hermaphroditic. They are part of the bivalve family which included scallops, clams, oysters (yum) and mussels.
• The labour of collecting cockles is hard work and, as seen from the Morecambe Bay disaster, in which 21 illegal immigrants died, can be dangerous if local tidal conditions are not carefully watched.
• Cockles are sold freshly cooked as a snack food in the United Kingdom, and are eaten with vinegar. Seafood stalls sell them along with mussels, whelks, and eels.

Bunnykin's Risotto

Pics of the Kiwi’s baked risotto (no stirring over the stove?!) which was delicious – topped with pancetta and rocket it was such a treat! Recipe to follow.

From the Rabbit:

Throw risotto rice, chicken/veg stock, chopped pumpkin (and something else that eludes me) and water into an oven safe casserole type dish. Cover and bake for 30 minutes. Then add fresh chopped herbs, parmesan, salt n pepper and serve.

I think that was it. It was a Donna Hay recipe. Easy peasy!

Having net connection issues and will only have the net ‘within the next 21 days’ according to BT and our new provider –it is such a nightmare to sort out and quite frustrating. Will try and do postings at the neighbours for the next little while, unless someone wants to guest post?

Jessica Rabbit

Who Framed Roger Rabbit - remember that movie? Just another day at the market! Not sure if this budding actress even eats rabbit - will have to ask her during our next market adventure.

Several times while growing up, our dad brought home a few rabbits and sometimes skinned them in the basement after a hunting trip. I think we even had a pet rabbit once that suspiciously 'disappeared' and we were only told after the fact that we had eaten it for dinner! And...our parents told us that everything that was put on the dinner table was 'chicken', including rabbit. Gotta love the tricks parents use to get their kids to eat - apparently Dolce Senior and I were poor eaters when we were little.

Here is a recipe for rabbit stew that I like - there are no measurements - just use your judgment e.g. a handful of vegetables and for the wine about 1-2 cups same with water and one can of chopped tomatoes:

Coniglio (rabbit) stew

Fresh whole rabbit cut into pieces
Olive oil
Zucchini
Carrots
Celery
Anise
Garlic
Onions
Mushrooms
Potatoes
Oregano
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Chopped Tomatoes, canned or fresh
White wine
Chicken stock

In a pan, heat olive oil until hot. Add onions, garlic and fry them til they become lightly golden. Add the rabbit to the onions and garlic and cook quickly on both sides until brown. Add vegetables sliced and diced (maybe pre boil the potatoes first or slice them very thinly so they cook).

Once the rabbit has browned nicely add the wine and spices. Let the rabbit soak up the wine and the medley of flavours from the vegetables, onions and garlic. Add salt and pepper.

After 5-10minutes add the tomatoes and some water or chicken stock. Reduce heat and let this all simmer until the sauce thickens. Test a piece of potato and rabbit to see if it is cooked –should take another 30-45min to thicken the sauce on low heat – slow cooking will bring out the flavours so no need to rush.

Serve with fresh, crusty bread and rice!

Maple syrup is Canada's top contribution to the food worldOne of the few pics taken of the dessert pancakes we had with real Canadian maple syrup on Pancake Tuesday / Shrove Tuesday. Mmmmm....not sure there is anything better than fresh strawberries, bananas and blueberries drizzled with maple syrup?

Happy Valentine's Day too...there is no chocolate for me as I gave it up for Lent but flowers and candy are a good substitute!

Evaporating seawater produces...
This sea salt comes from Noirmoutier Island near Brittany, France and is sold at Borough Market. It comes in some lovely flavour combinations e.g. sea salt and sea weed, sea salt and hot spices (cumin, curry & chili's), sea salt, ginger and coriander and more. As Momma Dolce always says, 'it is the presentation that counts', and the vendors know this well as salt is not the sexiest product to sell. With very well designed labels, modern and fresh signage, beautiful large wooden bowls and scoopers and a lovely french-y checkered tablecloth, the stall at the market looks inviting. The two gentlemen who run the stall have created such a simple, yet pleasing way to view and display salt. It made me want to put my hands into the bowls and feel the texture and salt on my skin -which is most likely frowned upon.

Apparently sea salt tastes different than normal iodized salt as its makeup is different. It is generally more expensive than normal salt and usually found in gourmet restaurants and also in those lovely hand baked crisps. I think the sound and texture of sea salt and fresh ground pepper coming out of a grinder onto your meal adds to the experience and theatre of cooking!

I might buy some seasoned sea salt tomorrow and ask the gentlemen who sell it what best to use it with. I am thinking a steak or a nice fish filet drizzled with salt and olive oil and broiled in the oven. Tomorrow is market day.

Which wine do you drink on date 5?I have been having frustratingly bad net connection this week - not sure why, as we pay enough for it from a look at our monthly bill!? So there is a lack of posts and seems like my laptop has exceeded its memory limit so need to get another external hard drive....why don't I have a computer geek as a boyfriend - it would definitely make all this techy stuff easier!

Today it is supposed to reach 17degrees and it has been sunny all weekend, it may be premature to say spring has sprung but the tulips on our balcony seem to be confused and emerging anyway!

The weekend was filled with Shoot BAFTA fun in the sun and some great wine and food with the Am-Dram team in Shoreditch, Trevor and some non-PRs along with a JWT ad agency guru (who has an entertaining 5 date rule) from Toronto.

Kitty announced the name of the wine we were drinking (it is her fave), Montepulciano - d'Abbruzzo in her funniest Italian accent - while C and I enjoyed listening to her funny Italian vocab. I think she knows how to say 'leave me alone' and a few other key phrases to fend off the men - well she is the honey monster so this is probably necessary!

Out to enjoy the sun and blue skies and see Moatsem's latest collection at the Metropolitan Hotel. Good to luck Sabina at the start of London Fashion Week!

Fat Tuesday's Menu

• Chocolate and strawberry pancakes with maple syrup
• Lemon and sugar pancakes
• Blueberry and strawberry pancakes with honey
• Strawberry and chocolate pancakes
• Spinach/veg and cheese pancakes
• Ham / cheese / spinach and mushroom pancakes

Kash flipped the pancakes, Neil brought the wine and the Scottish jokes, the batter chilled on the balcony, BH brought some tipsy banter and we mixed the batter sans whisk although someone went to other flats in the building asking for one - how neighbourly!

It took about 4 hours to make pancakes for all but they were delicious and it was good fun. Real pics to come as ours were more like crepes than the fluffy buttermilk ones in the pic above.

Now what are you giving up for Lent? Kash is giving up chips, crisps, biscuits and sweets (and she is doing the Three Peaks Challenge)- I am going for chocolate, crisps and biscuits and others at work were trying to figure out what they were going to give up today. Vicki said she was giving up -going out to eat- but she said that as we were at Dim T restaurant at lunch?! I guess she starts Lenten sacrifices a day later than most; and she said if she gets asked out on a date then she will have to break the rule again, and it doesn't count for breakfast or lunch!
Not a very religious bunch really.

Hidden gem: The Garrison Public House I must have walked by this place hundreds of times but never went inside. I remember a colleague always taking business clients to The Garrison but I never actually paid attention to where it was or what it was like. I just thought it was an average pub near the office as many of them seem to be -- just average.

Mme Andre and I went there the other night for a drink and had a wonderful Argentinian Malbec wine, the bartender even let us sample two of the wines before we went with the Malbec - he was lovely. I think he was enjoying our chat about how terrible our days were...and made us laugh which was a great start to the night.

The menu looks fab but we didn't have reservations so only had a lovely appetizer. Also I wasn't hungry since I over dosed on soup and biscuits during the day - our office has an endless supply of biscuits and I can't seem to control myself! And on Friday's they roll out the trolley with wine, beer and crisps! It is endless! This week am going to nibble on celery and carrots when the biscuit emerge.

We ordered smoked mackerel pate with green tomato chutney & toast...which I actually think was a baked apple chutney as that is what it looked and tasted like, but it was still scrumptious!

A must go - the crowd is chilled and the staff and the kitchen staff and what was coming out of it looked amazing. Definitely will go next time for dinner. And the decor has such a fab shabby chic look to it - I want to furnish my home like that - must learn to paint a chair to look like it is a vintage one...Ms. DeFranco's aunt is a pro at this - need her to teach me the technique as I love it.

Anyhow babbling on...must eat some dinner and start reading my new book, The Sex Life of Food by Bunny Crumpacker (I love this name!) I never thought I would hear of another person called Bunny!

Afternoon snackScones and tea with clotted cream - a lovely afternoon treat at work - sometimes the Brits live it up! Today I am writing a publishing test which is sure to be extremely tough so am pumping the body up with French toast, water, coffee and some new vitamins I bought (calcium and Vitamin E, D & K - as I can't get into goat's or soy milk) but first, after I press send, I am going straight to Pilates!

Jamie O made French toast the other night on tele with eggs and freshly cut chili pepper and used a crumpet / English muffin (as we call it in Canada), it was a nice alternative to using regular toast. There are crumpets in the kitchen today so will try it out!