This is one of the easiest and most delicious pasta sauces out there – an idiot can make it! All you do is open a can of tomatoes, chuck it in a saucepan with a halved onion and a couple of big lumps of butter, then simmer it for 30 minutes. Then whiz it up […]
Ever wanted to make those proper craggy toasted sandwiches that come off a hot press, oozing molten cheese and speckled with crusty bits, but can’t get to the cafe to order anything because dining out ‘en famille’ (ie with kids) is now like sharing a table with angry chimpanzees on crack? When we last ate […]
What is this apparition of heaven? Last week I found myself in a neon paradise, standing in a warehouse in North East London, surrounded on all sides by rainbow-hued signage. I thought I’d died and floated off to psychedelic nirvana. God’s Own Junkyard is a shimmering Aladdin’s cave of new and salvaged retro neon signage, […]
Image: Flickering Myth I was a huge fan of the Twin Peaks TV series in the early 90’s. It was all so lush and mysterious. I loved all the deranged and quirky characters, not least The Log Lady, who wore stout tweed and woollens and had frequent conversations with her log, carried underarm. I once went to […]
I find myself on a blasted heath in South East London. Not quite – just dragging myself and the kids about in yet another playground in Norwood Park on a bleak, wintry day. The wind is whipping at my face, the clouds loom heavily and my kids are beginning to whine. We’re all hungry, and […]
I call this my miracle dinner; it has been saving my life for around 25 years. You can assemble it in under 10 minutes and it is SO FLIPPIN’ DELICIOUS! It’s the equivalent of a comforting savoury hug – it’ll make you feel better about life, even if your day has been total shit. I […]
I would like to like to point out what a sheer bloody grind it is feeding my two small children. For context, this means two kids who have no allergies or any excuses not to eat, but ensure that the process is as labour intensive and as unenjoyable as possible. The younger child eats most […]
An unexpected thing happened to me in Margate when I visited Dreamland last December, the wonderfully restored amusement park on the seafront. I met secret-squirrel Guardian food journalist Marina O’Loughlin. No-one is meant to know what she looks like, as she keeps her identity top secret. I was chatting to my friend S, and a […]
What’s this? A bakery selling ONLY naan breads, fresh from the oven? Oh, yes please. I can’t think of anything better, actually, than a warm, pillowy naan to scoop up a fiery curry sauce. The ones you get in the supermarket are so hard and bland, so to find […]
I never thought that having kids and a resulting lack of personal space was ever going to be easy. And when I moaned yesterday, as I frequently do, that I was sick of the kids being ‘on’ me morning, noon and night, i.e. jumping on my back, pressing their bogey-filled faces onto my leg and […]
Toast & Butter 