It’s good to TalkTalk

Reading books affects our behaviour; gobbling up the written word is not always a passive experience.  A couple of months after finishing one of Michael Dibdin’s Italian detective novels I found myself cooking spaghetti aglio, olio e peperoncino, once a week on average.  Combining pasta with olive oil, chilli and garlic is something which once [...]

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For doubting you Nigel, I am so awfully sorry

Earlier this month Nigel Slater gave an interview to Radio 4′s arts programme Front Row to acknowledge the inclusion of his memoir Toast as one of those books to be given away for World Book Day.  As a little closing flourish John Wilson asked Nige for a single piece of culinary guidance.  Don’t cook something [...]

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My second Flick

The days are getting longer, cherry blossom is at the bum fluff stage and before very long we’ll be thinking about lighter, less carbohydrate-laden stuff to eat.  So, it’s to my bookshelves I skip with a garland of daffodils in my hair to hunt out all those recipes which will satisfy these daintier cravings.  Elizabeth [...]

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My first Flick

Despite its millions of photographs (or maybe because of it) there is little that draws me to Flickr.  For a short while before the dawning of really vital, life-saving things like Twitter,  Grindr and Ocado, I set up an account on which there still may be pictures of things I now can’t remember.  My ex, [...]

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Linda Smith

A nice lady called Christy Williams with whom I’ve been having a debate about the edibility or otherwise of wild geese has asked me to post something about my friend and colleague Linda Smith.  Linda was a sparkling and hugely original comedian.  She died nigh on five years ago now.  To raise money for ovarian [...]

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Farouk, what a scorcher

Of all cuisines, those of the Middle East are probably my favourite.  My knowledge of them is about as fulsome as that of most other Englishmen – with additional smugness provided by the existence of an unopened sachet of sumac in the cupboard.  Claudia Roden’s tomes sit hither and thither in the flat though and [...]

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Curried cheesy cauliflowers

This week in amongst tweets about my objections to Question Time producers booking comedians as panellists, my elderly neighbour’s sad and slightly creepy afternoon activity of playing Teddy Bears’ Picnic on the piano whilst gathering her collection of cuddly toys around her, and shouting at John Sentamu in 140 characters or fewer after his pitiful [...]

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Mastering the art of existentialism

The culinary talisman of 2009′s gastro-flick Julie and Julia is the heroic blogger’s making of a boeuf bourguignon.  From what I recall of the film, the first time she attempts this stew she drops it on the floor, and the second time she falls asleep and forgets to take it out of the oven.  This [...]

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How many recipes for Sauce Maltaise does a man need?

In Julian Barnes’ lovely anthology of essays The Pedant In The Kitchen which pertains to cookery, eating and the business of concerning oneself with food, the writer dedicates a chapter to considering how many cookery books a cook needs cluttering up the place. He poses the simple question how many cookbooks do you have? The [...]

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