introducing kelly's kentish town fairing: a mincemeat treat!

kentish town fairing!

I may have overdone this year's batch of Christmas mincemeat. It's not that I don't like mincemeat. I love it. But I made so much that I started to give jars away. Unfortunately my friends had also started to see me coming.

Since I have become somewhat obsessive about making and baking things, my friends are quite happy to try the finished result but are less happy with jars of pickles and food in it's uncooked state. I'm guessing why bother when you know someone (well me) would do it for you. And there is just so often that I can turn up a the pub lugging a tower of tupperware to hand out my kitchen largesse . . .

what's in season: february

rhubarb, rhubarb!

If February give much snow
A fine summer it doth foreshow 
(Traditional English saying) 

Well if there's any truth in the saying, so far England is destined for another dismal summer. Although forecasters are predicting a "cold snap" blowing in from the east. Which could mean anything from a bit of a chill to blizzards.

But weather aside, spring is on the horizon and if you're looking forward to a little colour in your culinary life, then it is the right time to celebrate rhubarb. February sees the Rhubarb Festival in Wakefield, heart of the wonderful "Rhubarb Triangle" (weather permitting . . . the lack of frosts this winter has affected the growing season).And if you think rhubarb is just for puddings (crumbles or perhaps a trifle), then think again. Stewed rhubarb makes a stunning accompaniement for roast pork.

what's in season: january

cobbles and puddles!

To read a poem in January is as lovely as to go for a walk in June.  
Jean-Paul Sartre 1905-80

Not such a bleak mid winter this year although we've had our fair share of wind and rain. I know for certain that the seasons are all a bit havey-cavey as I have a summer hollyhock in flower in my north London garden! But despite the milder weather, I still love comforting winter food and of course there are still fresh seasonal foods that are good to eat.

good tidings of comfort and joy: stollen

family-soothing stollen?

Christmas this year has not been awash with happiness. It was not so much that I minded not having turkey. I didn't. In fact, I was quite relieved, since I wouldn't have to feign appreciation, with all those "nom, nom, nom" noises tokening approval. I am a good actress unfortunately, which means we keep having turkey. But what with the house being flooded, the oven not working and my relatives being a bit cranky, food and drink doesn't seem to have been at the forefront of anybody's mind, except for mine (as usual).   

a guilty pleasure . . .

chicken noodle soup

I posted a recipe for a Thai hot and sour soup recipe a few days ago. It's something I make often. No shame in that. But I do have a guilty pleasure. It is so bad, that when I confessed it to Nephew Number 2, he appeared as shocked to the core as the average eleven year old can be. Although he admitted it was funny, he was more incensed at the injustice of it all. How come I can get away with it and he can't? I suggested he learn to cook . 

I raise a toast to all of you: thank you, thank you, thank you!

mince pies

Christmas Poem Ring out, wild bells, to the wild sky,
The flying cloud, the frosty light;
The year is dying in the night;
Ring out, wild bells, and let him die.

Ring out the old, ring in the new,
Ring, happy bells, across the snow:
The year is going, let him go;
Ring out the false, ring in the true.
Alfred, Lord Tennyson 1809-92

nam prik pao (thai chilli paste)

nam prik pao (thai chilli paste)

Cooking chillies can be lethal (as I know to my cost). I am slightly allergic to chillies, so have to make sure that I wear rubber gloves (and probably a wet suit) to prevent the pain that envelops me if chilli gets anywhere near me. But do watch out when cooking the chilli itself. The fumes can be noxious, as an unsuspecting public and Thai restaurant in central London discovered to its cost a few years ago, when it set off a terrorist alert!