I’m a firm believer in something I tend to call food assembly. With that I mean arranging various bits of food (mainly veg and grains) to create a meal consisting of many dishes rather than just one. The days of trying to create something fancy, or perfectly timed, are firmly over in my world. Not that I can say I was ever a great cook and that is probably why I find the art of food assembly so very, very appealing. Continue reading “Food assembly vs. cooking”
How nice to be back, it’s been a little while since I last wrote…
As were moving towards the end of Summer, we’ve been lucky to have had a mini heat wave here in London. A couple of days ago we spent a glorious afternoon on the veranda of a beautiful houseboat near Hampton Court in Surrey. It was baking hot, boats were passing, kayaks were paddled and all the kids were splashing about in the river. It was pure bliss. Continue reading “Home-made Kimchi”
When I was in California earlier this Summer I came across a vacuum packed charcoal stick called Binchotan Charcoal, claiming to purify water. The helpful lady in the shop told me the Japanese had used charcoal to detoxify water since the 17th century. Who knew? As I love anything Japanese, especially their tea rituals and seaweed rich diet, this was something I needed to explore. Continue reading “Binchotan Charcoal – purifies your water differently”
As a fruit and veggie lover I generally don’t tend to associate eating out with healthy food. Great tasting food, yes, quality meat, yes, but not necessarily fresh, organic, interesting veggies mixed in a way I’d perhaps prefer if I was cooking at home. Now I know many restaurants and pubs go to great lengths to have local, seasonal produce to serve with their dishes but I am talking about your average meal out, without too much planning or research. The truth is it’s often tasty but not so healthy.
To me, therefore, the concept is quite contradictory – the point of eating out is perhaps exactly that you don’t care about nutrition, on that particular occasion, but rather want to enjoy the flavours of that which you don’t eat every day.
Fast forward to yesterday, however, when I was taken to Notting Hill’s Electric House Restaurant by kind friends. The menu was positively brimming with yummy combos of vegetables that you could team with fish or meat but happily have on its own too. For me it was an eye opener of what eating out could be like when you have a menu match!
Here are some interesting dishes and combos from Electric House’s menu that can be recreated at home:
Most of the vegetable dishes were no more than £7 and the portions were very generous, utterly simple and delicious. Definitely not just a small side. I had a piece of grilled salmon with green beans, coupled with a spinach, grilled fennel and asparagus salad. As I’m staying off gluten and starchy things at present, this was my menu made in heaven and just as filling as if it had been served with rice/pasta/potato. There was no way on earth that I was going to be able to finish all of it and in fact, none of us could. And we all like to eat – a lot! As it is a members club you have to know someone who can take you, but if you get the chance to go I can highly recommend the food and the ambience – when we left close to midnight the place was positively jumping. Enjoy your Saturday, everyone! X
