A slightly delayed one thanks to an impromptu day yesterday – lunch outside in the garden (smoked tuna niçoise and a bottle of albariñho), two hours of swimming and sunbathing and plotting at Battery Rocks, frozen margs and Modelos at 45, then a quick cycle to Argoe for orange wine and the most perfect flan.
Back home for two weeks of a Cornish summer, where the sun has not stopped shining and the coastal breeze is perfect and welcome. My love for West Penwith swells in these sun-soaked months – forever pinching ourselves that we live on holiday.
I think the coming and going makes it that much sweeter. London three times in one month was far too much, but it makes the morning sea swims and silky water and beach day so worth it. Having said that, I’m spending August in Canada, ready to live out my lake girl summer dreams. But for now, home is exactly where I need and want to be.
Never been so excited to cook than on Thursday, having eaten out for the past two weeks (bar the odd beach constructed sandwich in Marseille). For lunch, it was as simple as tomatoes generously salted, drizzled with Olea PIa rose balsamic vinegar (a perfect gift from my previous house guests, Djelissa and Maddy) and drenched in Napa Valley olive oil (another sweet gift from May’s house guest, Isabelle). I threw in some thinly sliced shallots and put the bowl in the freezer so everything was ice cold. The leftover liquid at the bottom of the bowl was like the most perfectly tart and sweet cold soup.
These tomatoes have gone with all my subsequent meals. Cooked my friend Charlie a steak dinner: butter basted ribeye, potatoes in the browned butter from the steak pan, homemade salsa verde, leave dressed in lime miso vinaigrette.
The steak dinner was also accompanied one of my favourite ways to cook courgettes: thinly sliced, gently fried in plenty of olive oil with a few crushed garlic cloves, a big pinch of salt and chilli flakes until they’re caramelised and seemingly reduced in half. Let them cool then stir them into a bowl of Greek yoghurt with lots of lemon zest.
Then for lunch the next day, the easiest niçoise – potatoes + green beans tossed in salsa verde, leaves dressed in lime miso vin, smoked tuna – a favourite purchase from Lidl when they’re in their Greek week! – plus the tomatoes. Great with this specific albariñho from Co Op, which is less than £12 and goes so well with fish.
I’m being tantalised with pictures of crispy rice and grilled meat and fish. First, the Basque style roast chicken and rice at Brat Climpson’s Arch, posted by Alice Grier. Secondly, a paella pan full of crispy rice with perfectly grilled carabinero prawns at Tuba from Delaney.
I can’t stop sharing Tahini Dirtbag’s recipes because they’re so good! T-bone steak with sumac pickled shallots and crispy potatoes… yep.
Kitty Coles’ Vietnamese-style roast chicken with orange and ginger is on the menu tonight.
Matty Matheson’s bacon egg and cheese sandwich is primed for a Monday morning hangover post St Eia’s 5th birthday celebration…
Amelia Ferrier’s crispy spring onion chicken with coriander and lime rice… could also be a contender for tonight’s dinner.
Still slightly weirded out by Ben Slater’s videos but here’s a good recipe for romesco sauce.
I picked up Slutty Cheff’s memoir, Tart, at Paddington station, and read it hungrily on the train home. I won’t lie, I find her writing a little obnoxious (but I have a feeling that might also be the work of an editor trying to sell food and sex…) but I have to say, I’ve been looking forward to reading it and finished it within a couple of days. Just makes me love restaurants and eating and kitchens.
My wonderful and talented from Meg was recently interviewed by Scura (a magazine by the design studio Flawk), as well as filmed for Vinterior. She runs nicahoop – a curated marketplace for vintage furniture and objects, hand selected by Meg. I trust every design decision she has ever made. Her house is a gallery of objets trouvé set against chalky walls. Watch her apartment tour and get inspired!!!
I flew back into London on Sunday morning and went straight to Malik Acid’s mango event in Haggerston – it was a brilliant panel talk with Mehlaqa Khan, Apoora Sripathi, Meneesha Kaur Kellay and Missy Flynn. They discussed the cultural impact of mangoes, the traditions that follow it in their specific cultures, and the Proustian memories they associate with the fruit. Off the back of this, you should read Apoora’s essay, The Pleasure and Politics of Eating Mangoes, for Vittles.
I remember reading somewhere — with a certain amount of scepticism given the labour of women as mothers is often glossed over — that the Asian love language is a bowl of cut fruit. But perhaps it is true with mangoes. Mango is a tricky fruit to cut, unless it is raw. I am aware of all the tips and tricks on the internet telling me how to slice and dice a mango, but no good mango is actually that easy or enjoyable to cut. It’s pulpy and slippery. The only way is to make a mess, to have juice run all over your hands, pulp falling everywhere, and the disappointment of a knife hitting the stone.
I find American college culture fascinating, so gobbled up this New York Magazine piece about the rise and fall of Vanderbilt University in Nashville.
Of course Steve Lacey’s new album is on repeat – a brilliant mix of soulful beats and indie melodies.
Good things to consume (aesthetically)
Got totally influenced by Panayiota Soutis to buy bath and shower oils from 39BC. Can confirm it’s worth it. The sage water and fig milk are my two favourites – the whole packaging experience is brilliant. You’ll smell like Cleopatra which is all I’ve ever wanted.
On a Pani note, I managed to catch up with her at Cremer, everyone favourite new cafe in Hoxton. It is as beautiful as it looks in photos. Slightly mad that baguette and butter costs £6, though.
Deeply obsessed with Jasmine Fisher’s wooden dining table with ceramic inlays by Francesca Fossi, fabricated by Fallen And Felled. I have a real thing for timber and ceramics together.
Also in love with Rio Kobayashi’s table made with two interconnected wooden chairs. Especially love the Bosa Bosa chairs that are decorated with tufts of boar hair and named after the Japanese word for ‘messy hair’.
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