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Amidst Art and Wilderness in Arizona
I stood at the top of Cathedral Rock, overlooking the clutter of red rocks in the distance. Below, cars trailed across the landscape on pieces of gray ribbon, looping intricately around dull desert vegetation and more rocks. A strong wind blew, whipping locks of my hair against my lips and shoving me against a rogue...
Pumpkin flavoured delights…
The oversees caffeine giant strikes again with an American twist on a festive tradition. Ahhh STARBUCKS™, you are sometimes so wonderful… For weeks now Americans have been bombarding the internet with pumpkins. Treats of all kinds have been appearing because of Thanksgiving and Halloween but mainly they have been boasting about the latest PUMPKIN flavoured creation to be adapted to coffee or iced treat...
Soggy Tapas
A thin stream of rainwater followed the delicate arabesque of the Moorish fretwork before falling to the tiled floor where it bounced before being lost in the general deluge. Damp groups of soggy cold tourists huddled together for warmth and to admire the Alhambra through driving rain. We made brave dashes from archway to archway...
I don’t like Chardonnay, but I like Chablis
One sentence that is heard over and over in wine retail outlets, perpetually throughout the UK must be people suggesting that they don’t like Chardonnay, refuse to drink it, blame it for hangovers, single the grape out in particular as the reason that they always seem to get a headache, yet don’t seem to know...
The more obscure regions of the world of wine
Alongside trying some of the offerings from the established regions of the wine world, imported and distributed by the powerhouses of the UK wine market, Bibendum, John E Fells and the like I had the opportunity at the LIWF to try some wines from the more obscure regions and from makers who are creating...
The little app that makes everyone a wine genius
I came across, recently, a new iPhone app from a Dutch company called WineStein. The app is really pretty impressive. It has a massive and ever increasing database of wine and the exact scientific food matching for different wines. This can be as simple as searching Australian Shiraz and a list of apt dishes will...
A brief introduction to English wines.
I have over the last couple of weeks had my patriotism excited from its usual simmer, simmer in the broadest sense of the word, more of a single, occasional bubble in a sea of indifference, excited none the less to a boil and my outlook on these green and pleasant lands buoyed and brightened by...
Niš Baklava
The Balkan Cookbook Niš Baklava As a child, I used to visit auntie ‘O’ on St Nicholas’s Day—Santa Claus is my uncle’s patron saint. On this day over a thousand years ago my uncle’s ancestor had given up his pagan gods and become a Christian. It fell to his descendants to honour the anniversary...
The Urban Forager: A Philosophy of Use
Foraging is a pursuit usually associated with the countryside. When we think of foragers, we think of adults and children standing under huge apple trees in the corner of deserted fields or next to hedges at the side of country roads, with plastic bags in one hand and the other hand sticky, fruit-stained grasping handfuls...
