Friday, June 4, 2010

A Souper Idea


On trying to find out the meaning of a 'cabinet particulier' (a private room, it turns out, in 19th century top-notch Parisian restaurants, popular for lovers' rendezvous) I accidentally found out where the term 'restaurant' itself is thought to have originated: in the mid 1800s, an enterprising French soup-maker named Monsieur Boulanger began advertising his 'restoratives' - or 'restaurants' - soups and broths designed to turn the frail to hail and hearty...et voila: le reste, as they say, is histoire.

Tuesday, May 11, 2010

Snap, Gaggle and Pop

Amy, one of the guys involved in Transit Antenna, made this life- sized goose sculpture from Rice Krispies and marshmallows for a birthday party. The goose's head became such a coveted body part amongst the young guests that she had to hold an impromptu dance competition to decide who would get it! http://transitantenna.com/

Monday, April 19, 2010

Satay-sty....


I only had a couple of minutes-worth of energy and a slightly odd bunch of vegetables left to cook with tonight, but managed to throw together something by accident that came out yummy.....so here's a recipe for a last-minute, ten-minute coconut vegetable satay (just put your rice on to cook before you get sataying):

Two parsnips
One onion
Olive oil
Soy sauce
Mirin
Two big sprigs of broccoli
Large handful of asparagus
Yellow pepper
Vegetable stock-cube
One can of coconut milk
Around three tablespoons of unsweetened peanut butter (crunchy works fine)
One lemon
A dash of sambal or chilli sauce, if you're in the mood

Chop and soften the onion in a little oil, then add the parsnip, cut into fingers, a good dash of soy sauce and the same of mirin. Cook for a couple of minutes, then throw in the rest of the vegetables and stir-fry for two more minutes. Add the coconut milk and a little vegetable stock, mix and cook for two more minutes, then stir in the dollops of peanut butter. Turn off the heat, and let it simmer; the heat should cook the vegetables until they're al dente. Just before serving, add some more soy sauce, a good squeeze of lemon juice, a jolt of spicy sauce if you feel like it, and throw over a large pile of brown rice. Instant dinner, and a taste of Indo-Thai yumminess.

Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Big Mike and fries, to go

"After a two year loan to the United States, Michelangelo's David is being returned to Italy"

A little Facebook gem courtesy of artist John Beazley

Thursday, March 25, 2010

Charaben-tastic




Sick of plain old cucumber maki ? Go creative at lunchtime with a Charaben (character bento box), so popular in Japan that there are nationwide contests to find the perfectly constructed world-in-a-snack. For more inspiration on how to turn your carrots to cartoons, go to Lucky Sundae's Flickr photostream or an instructional video on tofu robots at Wired.com - it certainly beats a cheese-and-pineapple hedgehog.



Saturday, March 20, 2010

The Moveable Feast

It is said that the tradition of brightly coloured eggs began in Ancient Persia to mark the coming of spring. Simnel cake, a fruit cake decorated with eleven marzipan balls to represent the apostles, (not including Judas, of course, that biblical bad egg) is now the Easter cake of choice in Britain and has been around since the Middle Ages. The inspiration for this cake, however, lies more with Mr Cadbury than Gilgamesh. It seemed fitting for a little girl's early easter egg hunt, I hope she enjoys it!