So, it’s Christmas again, and that means it’s time to bake something fittingly seasonal and rich. This year, that’s panforte di Sienna, an Italian dessert loosely resembling a cake that’s packed with fruit and nuts. Panforte originated in Sienna in the 12th century, and is supposed to contain seventeen ingredients, to reflect the number of districts [...]
Cooking Indian food can be something of a trial. Lists of ingredients a mile long, complicated techniques, extended cooking times … It’s always worth the effort, always worth the satisfaction of sitting down to a rogan josh that’s been simmering away for a couple of hours, the spices blending together with unfathomable complexity. But sometimes, [...]
In my quest to crack the ongoing puzzle of eating well at lunchtime when lunchtime slips to about twenty minutes at most, I’ve started to experiment. This all began when this article popped up on Facebook. It reminded me of something Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall had done a few years ago, that thing I’d made a note to have a [...]
Here’s a great chance to win a box of Hotel Chocolat’s new range of slightly-boozier-than-normal chocolates. The Cocktail Chocolates to Chill box contains sixteen chocolates four Passionfruit Margaritas, four Moscow Mules, four Mojitos, and four Grapefruit Gin & Tonics. These are not the dusty old liqueur chocolates of old … there’s no terrible flood of alcohol [...]
It’s said of Vienna’s cafés that you consume time and space, but only coffee appears on the bill. These are places to think and contemplate, to sit and read, to discuss the weighty matters of the day over a cup of coffee and a slice of cake. One cup is enough. The waiter will not hurry [...]