foodierudy

It’s finally spring! One thing I’ve really missed since moving to London is a garden. I love growing stuff, getting my hands dirty, and harvesting the fruit of my labours. I grew up on a farm, and now that I’m living in a city, I miss that close connection to the land. I’m a Christian agrarian at heart.

There’s no greater lunch than some crusty sourdough bread with butter, and a nice salad made with just-picked cherry tomatoes, still warm from the sun! I miss mum’s herb-garden, where I could pick rosemary when making focaccia, or fragrant thyme for a bouquet garni. Or parsley, sage, chives, lemon thyme (great in steamed fish parcels), borage, fennel, mint - I’d find food a bit boring without herbs!

So, being a nice warm sunny day, yesterday my lovely wife M and I went to Homebase and bought some herbs, a planter, and some potting mix. Visiting a garden center made us miss NZ…

The thyme was already in flower, so I need to give it a good trim (shame really) but I’ll wait a week to give it a chance to settle in first. We’ve also got some rosemary, some parsley, and I’ve sown chives and basil.

M remarked we were becoming quite domestic… :o)

Their bright greens cheer the kitchen up too!

Due to the generosity of the many friends and family who gave us squillions in wedding gifts, we are now the proud owners of a Le Creuset 24 cm Round Casserole. It’s a good solid cast iron enameled jobby, in the timeless Volcanic (orange), and came with a complimentary grill plate!

Mum had one for some 20 odd years, and it has a lifetime guarantee, so I’m pretty chuffed.

Let the stewing commence…

On Tuesday evening I listened to the excellent Sandor Katz speaking on the topic of fermentation at the London College of Naturopathic Medicine. Sandor is a friendly hippy who explained how pretty much every culture on the Euro-Asian landmass has some way to preserve their produce using fermentation, from Korean Kimchi, to German Sauerkraut. Many of the foods we eat daily involve fermentation at some stage in their production (ie. yoghurt, cheese, wine, beer, chocolate, bread, salami, coffee, etc). Enthused, I thought I’d make some Sauerkraut… (more…)

Don’t normally give money to homeless people around, I’m not a scrooge, and really like helping other people, but everyone says giving money doesn’t really help them in the long term here and here. What to do? Seeing them on the streets saddens me. I still won’t usually give them any money. I have bought a Big Issue before, however when I handed over my quid, the guy refused to give me his paper, reckoned it was his last one and he needed it to make some more money. Felt ripped off. I let him keep the quid tho. However, on a cold, rainy day, I have walked past some very miserable people, and then given (actually M usually gives) a couple of quid. Out last night, walking with M. Saw someone walking past drop something, got a little annoyed at people littering etc, but it turned out to be £5! Looked back, but couldn’t identify him/her in the crowd, so shoved it in my pocket. Felt a little guilty for not giving it back, hopefully no-one saw me, and then suggested to M we give it to someone. No beggars in sight (strange I know, this is London after all), thought I might put it in collection box at church tomorrow. But then, they do all right, a fiver is not going to make a big difference. Ended up giving it to a homeless guy further along. Almost walked past him, then remembered the 5 squid burning a hole in my pocket. When I gave it to him, he cracked the biggest grin on his face, M smiled, and I got all warm and fuzzy inside. Still felt embarrassed that so little gave someone so much joy. Hope he spent it wisely…

Yesterday, we stumbled across San Marco, a lively Italian “Ristorante - Pizzeria” on Clapham High St. We were walking around, looking for a nice little place to have some dinner, stopping to peer at menus and see if anything caught my, oops, our fancy. The first thing M noticed was a bowl with resident goldfish in the window. Why? - we wondered. Peering through the window, we saw the place was packed with a queue of eager punters waiting for space - always a good sign. Checking out the menu, we noticed prices were very reasonable, and there was a “daily specials” menu scrawled on an orange flyer stuck to the window - again a good sign. We peeked through the door, but thought we’d try elsewhere, as we didn’t fancy waiting for a table. We walked further along the strip, past heaving bars and pubs, rowdy patrons spilling onto the footpaths. So many choices - noticed Esca (looked very quiet, M admired the tall, shelves, stacked neatly with deli-wares), Eco (very busy), and The Rapscallion (name sounds like a rock band - looked cool - scruffy, noisy, easy menu and reasonable value). Around the corner, we stopped to check out Gastro, in Venn St, opposite the Clapham Picture House. A & L had been there last year, and A said it had a great atmosphere - like a little slice of Paris. The menu read very French, but also very pricey. Gut feeling - no. About turn, and off to the high st again.

Anyway, we decided to keep Bierodrome and Bodean’s for a boys’ night out. Mmmm…beer…meat…. Before we knew it, we were back at San Marco, and the queue was gone - hurrah! (more…)