A long time ago, a demon called Kolhasur settled in the beautiful and rugged land along the West coast of India, bordering the Indian Ocean. The people suffered terribly at the hands of their demon neighbour. A goddess, Mahalakshmi, was sent to free them. Mahalakshmi killed Kolhasur, but in an act of benevolence, granted his [...]
It happens to all courgette growers. Turn your back for a day or so and the small, delicate fruits transform into gigantic marrows. They take over your plot, they take over your fridge. You kid yourself that courgette soup is nice, then you realise it isn’t. You throw them on the compost heap. Happens every [...]
I posted some photos last week from a small café and bookshop in Becherel, France. It was an amazing place, a bookshop with a café attached as a sideline rather than the other way round. This is the way these things should be. It was how I imagine my bookshop will look and feel if [...]
What is it? Orangina is an orange juice based soft drink that’s massive in France and other European countries. It comes in a funny shaped bottle and needs to be shaken up before serving. “Shake the bottle, release the flavour”, as the advert goes. Every day, million of French waiters half-heartedly shake Orangina bottles with [...]
As Jonathan Swift put it in 1738, “he was a bold man that first ate an oyster”. That first brave leap into consumption is easy to imagine when you’re holding a freshly shucked oyster in your hand, the slimy flesh swimming in seawater. There’s a lot to put people off about a raw oyster. The [...]