Markets have been the social and cultural hubs of towns and cities for centuries, millennia, even. They’re meeting places, trading places, places to eat and drink, places that play a central part in the community they serve. The traveler can gauge the temperature and mood of a town by heading straight for its market. Ambling [...]
One thing about this blog makes me a little uncomfortable. It’s not the writing, the cooking or the photography. It’s not keeping on top of it, and – believe me – I’m not laid awake at night worrying about visitor growth or statistics. It’s reviewing restaurants. This has always troubled me because I’m not sure [...]
I think that Starbucks gets a lot of unfair flack, and I’ll admit that I’ve dished some out myself in the past. The ‘is Starbucks evil?’ question is one that’s regularly tossed around. I don’t think there’s a definitive answer. Any corporation the size of Starbucks will attract some form of criticism, and Starbucks has [...]
Everybody knows that cooking professionally is hard. The hours are long, the work is stressful. Kitchens are hot, inhospitable and downright dangerous places to work. It’s relentless work, with wave after wave of possible problems and things that could – and do – go wrong. But to some people, cooking is in their blood. It’s [...]
Last week, I made a dish of confit rabbit, coated in breadcrumbs and then deep fried. A couple of people made comments about the inherent unhealthiness of the meal. True, this was a meal of rabbit cooked in goose fat and then deep fried. It had its fair share of calories, but it tasted unlike [...]