Author Archives: Toast & Butter
The Modern Pantry
I was so excited at the thought of brunch at The Modern Pantry, I practically skipped up the road from Farringdon station in the winter sunshine. Things were looking mighty impressive – having checked out their interesting brunch menu online (think breakfast dishes with an Aussie twist), I was salivating at the thought of a […]
L’Autre Pied
So my wonderful husband treated me to a belated birthday dinner on Friday, at L’Autre Pied, the sister restaurant to top restaurateur David Moore’s Pied a Terre. How do I know about David Moore? Well, I was totally hooked on the BBC series ‘The Restaurant’, in which Raymond Blanc offered one couple the chance to […]
Pearl
Sometimes in life it’s really fun to luxuriate in a little bit of swank. As in, going to a really all-bells-all-whistles top restaurant, where the food is stacked in fancy towers and the cocktails take ages to mix. Usually I’d find such places intimidating and over-fussy, but sometimes they can be all-out fun if the […]
The Lewes Arms
Sometimes it’s so hard to find a pub that serves decent ales AND food. But happily we stumbled upon the gem that is The Lewes Arms, a stone’s throw from the castle and tucked away behind the law courts in the historic town of Lewes in East Sussex. We arrived, bedraggled and a tad depressed […]
Thai food freakiness
I love travelling to different countries and tittering at all the amusingly-titled food packaging – ‘Bimbo’ bread, ‘Fart’ candy bars, ‘Crap’s’ chocolate etc. (I’m so mature). I’m also obsessed with finding out what strange food habits other nationalities have. We Brits have some really poor food heritage that make foreigners cringe: Marmite, SPAM, stinky hot […]
Thailand: they love the sweet stuff!
I’ve just returned from a fortnight in Thailand, where I made sure I did a lot of grazing. After all, isn’t that what all the best holidays are about? So, kicking off with an afternoon cookery course in Bangkok at the Baipai Thai Cooking School, I made it my mission to get under the skin […]
Fennel and pink grapefruit salad
I’m currently whipping through the sublime second series of Mad Men on DVD. I love everything about it, and the attention to 1950s and 1960s detail is lush. But the food you see the characters eating definitely makes me feel grateful to be living in the Teenies (is that what we’re meant to be calling […]
Beetroot recipe horror!
Too often I’m racked with guilt about food waste. I hate throwing anything away. Even if it means making weird stir fries with 87 types of vegetables in them. So, in anticipation of N and I going on holiday soon, I’ve been preoccupied with using everything up in the fridge that could go off. Which […]
A tinier kitchen
My friend S who lives in Brighton has an even tinier kitchen than me. He has put up with its diminutive size for about eight years and has finally had enough: he’ll soon be moving house. I’m so very jealous (in advance) of his bigger future kitchen. Over the years, even though his current cooking […]
Florist Cafe, Ashbourne
We celebrated the new year at our friends’ wedding in Buxton, Derbyshire. There was snow on the ground and we drank mulled wine outside, trying not to fall down in our high heels and twat ourselves on the ice. The bride and groom had a tower of cheeses (left) instead of a traditional wedding cake, […]
Toast & Butter 