Cooking, eating and drinking is fun as well as necessary. I do food for fun and I write for a living. Good food makes the world a more delicious and satisfying place. Good writing, meanwhile, can make the world a less confusing place.
Find more about me on:
I picked up Jack Monroe’s Cooking on a Bootstrap when I was out hunting for chocolate. I meant to give it to a niece who recently started university: it seemed a perfect fit for a cash-strapped young person in charge of their own diet for the first time. But I…
Next week is chocolate week. I’m not a chocolate nut but I am a chocolate snob. As you know, if you’ve followed us for a while, I’m a fan of savoury things: salty licorice, all things umami. It’s the same with chocolate. I like the dark stuff. So, for fun…
St. Andrews Brewing Company has been in place on Potter Row for almost a year. It’s in a unit that has seen various pubs and restaurants over the years, most recently The Potting Shed. I went here when it was called The Wool Pack way back when. Last week, I…
Beetroot cured salmon with pickled kholrabi, home-made ravioli with butternut squash, parmesan and chilli croquette and Weekend in Venice, the cocktail.
We went to The Westroom in Edinburgh’s West End to celebrate its launch as Edinburgh first cicchetti bar. A couple of proseccos and meatballs later we were very happy.
Two new vegetarian/vegan places have opened up in Bruntsfield recently. (Well, recently enough that I haven’t been yet.) Always interested to see what the vegetable-loving scene looks like, Christopher and I went for lunch at one of them last week: Thrive.
Joe Wicks, the Bodycoach, pops up on cook book shelves across the country. He is fit, has a lovely smile and glossy hair that makes you ask questions about his conditioner. To support his recipe collections he’s released a kitchenware collection. Debenham’s asked me if I wanted to review some…
The Festival(s) are over and Edinburgh is peculiarly quiet. The students aren’t back yet but most of the tourists are gone. The sky is grey, the air cool. For the next month or so I’ll be mostly staying in and cooking. And since I long for entertainment – non-stop brain…
I was emailed by Ombar to see if I liked chocolate and was interested in trying some of theirs. Ombars are raw chocolate bars made from Equadorian cacao, coconut and a variety of fruits, berries and nuts. They come in full-sized bars (70 grams) and small bars (35 grams).
My friend and I were talking about what the building that houses Courtyard by Marriott used to be. We remember walking past it and seeing it boarded up for years, buddleia growing in the gutters, sun-bleached crisp bags stuck on the railings. It was a sad end to the party street…
The West End is full of bars and restaurants so it’s easy for any one of them to be overlooked. Despite the fact that Amy reviewed it a couple of years ago, I think of Foundry 39 as a pub/bar rather than a restaurant. I’ve gone there for a quick…
Google Plus
Facebook
Twitter