The Thorngrove Table

Scaling up is worth it

Amazon.co.uk is currently having a sale on electronic Salter Kitchen Scales. Now normally I wouldn't bother commenting, however I have to say the Salter scale I have (which is a smaller compact model, but still goes down to 1 gm or 1/8 oz weight) is excellent, and if you're thinking of buying one, I thoroughly endorse this brand.

At one point about a year ago, I dropped the whole thing into a bowl full of water for several seconds (don't ask), and for a little while it showed nothing but blinking numbers and I was like, "Woe! I've killed my little electronic friend!". However once it had dried out a couple of days later, it went back to normal and has worked fine ever since. I'm not recommending you follow my example (!) or even claiming that yours would survive such a dipping, but it was an impressive feat nonetheless (plus I was very grateful I didn't have to shell out for another scale).

So yes, they are expensive, but the quality is worth it. And if you look around online you can usually find one on sale, e.g. currently on Amazon (one of them is £13, see below) or off eBay. The latter is where I got mine (brand new from a kitchen store) for £20, which was about £10+ off the RRP at the time.

Confucius Fortune Cookie say:

"You will find the source of your fortune... in bed Japan."

Yes, it turns out that Chinese Fortune cookies originated from slightly further to the east than previously thought - researcher Yasuko Nakamachi has uncovered the genesis of the fortune cookie in C.19th Japan.

"Her prime pieces of evidence are the centuries-old small family bakeries making obscure fortune cookie-shaped crackers by hand near a temple outside Kyoto. She has also turned up many references to the cookies in Japanese literature and history, including an 1878 etching of a man making them in a bakery - decades before the first reports of American fortune cookies."

Full article by Jennifer Lee, available from the New York Times online here.

A hand with eating seasonally

If, like me, you are a child of modern times - which translates to 'having no more than the vaguest clue as to when things are in season' - then here's someone helping to set us on the straight and narrow with our weekly food purchases:

Eat the Seasons offers a newsletter, sent to you every Wednesday, telling you what fruit and vegetables are currently in season and therefore the best thing fo you to buy.

The website also offers articles on many of the fruit and vege listed. These contain brief history, biology, nutrition, tips and 'other stuff' sections, as well as their 'pick of the recipes' - both online and those available in popular UK recipe books (e.g. Jamie Oliver, Raymond Blanc, etc).

There is also an Eat the Seasons USA/Canada site for those of you in North America.

Although I'm probably preaching to the converted, here are the very good reasons we should eat seasonally (as listed by Eat the Seasons):

• to reduce the energy (and associated CO2 emissions) needed to grow and transport the food we eat
• to avoid paying a premium for food that is scarcer or has travelled a long way
• to support the local economy
• to reconnect with nature's cycles and the passing of time

but, most importantly, because

• seasonal food is fresher and so tends to be tastier and more nutritious

A Food article & Chocolate Shopping Online

An interesting article on food shopping for speciality ingredients by The Guardian, here.

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Regarding Chocolate:

I'd just like to add my two pence and remark that although it's the only chocolate outlet mentioned by the article, I haven't been impressed with the taste or quality of hotelchocolat's chocolate on the several occasions I've eaten it. The presentation and packaging is very pretty, but I definitely don't recommend it to anyone to buy as a gift or a treat for yourself. My samplings have all been corporate gifts - welcome ones, but me scoffing freebies doesn't equate to my tastebuds losing their sense of discrimination.

If you want chocolate online, here are some options. These shops either make their own quality chocolates or import/sell good quality chocolates:

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Charbonnel et Walker
Some of the world's best rose and violet creams.
1 The Royal Arcade, 28 Old Bond Street, London W1S 4BT
www.charbonnel.co.uk/

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Chococo
Ethically-produced handmade artisan chocolates by Claire & Andy Burnet - what could be nicer?
off Commercial Road, Purbeck
www.chococo.co.uk

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Chocology
Shop selling a variety of high-end chocolates - Neuhaus, Valrhona, Leonidas, Chocolate Society, Cafe Tasse, Gudrun, etc.
London Bridge Railway Station, Railway Approach, Bermondsey, London SE1
www.chocology.co.uk

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Chocolate Gourmet
Stocks a wide range of speciality bars and truffles, including one of my favourites, El Rey Icoa White Chocolate, made from Venzuelan-only sourced beans. Although not currently certified organic due to the cost of certification, El Ray are an organic Fair Trade company. When I wrote to them to enquire about their policies a couple of years ago, their managing director took the time to personally answer me and assure me of their values and vision. Add this to the fact their chocolate is absolutely divine, you can see why this company occupies a special corner of my heart (and stomach).
www.chocolategourmet.co.uk

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The Chocolate Society
Da Authority! They run excellent classes and promote real chocolate (as opposed to candy) in the UK. They also make scrumptious chocolates.
36 Elizabeth Street, London, SW1W 9NZ.
32 - 34 Shepherd Market, London W1J 7QN.
www.chocolate.co.uk

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Godiva Chocolatier
Famous for a reason.
7 stores in London & 1 at Bluewater
www.godiva.com

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L'artisan du chocolat
Really interesting flavoured chocolates - the liquid salted caramels? Heavenly.
89 Lower Sloane Street, Chelsea, London, SW1 W8DA
www.artisanduchocolat.com

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Montezuma's
Gorgeous organic British-made chocolate with interesting flavours & real couverture for cooks (I use this one myself)
51 Brushfield Street, Spitalfields, London E1 6AA
12 Peascod Street, Windsor SL4 1DU, plus several other stores around England
www.montezumas.co.uk

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Plaisir du Chocolat
Amazing artisan chocolates, as well as Pâtes de fruit (yum!) and other delicacies.
251-253 Canongate, The Royal Mile, Edinburgh
www.plaisirduchocolat.com

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Rococo Chocolates
Lovely, lovely artisan chocolate that's as pleasing to the eye as the palate.
321 Kings Road, London SW3
www.rococochocolates.com

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And of course, don't forget you can also chocolate-shop at Fortnum & Mason or Harrods.

Afternoon Tea & tasty discoveries

Saturday I went to a lovely afternoon tea with some friends. Johanna of The Passionate Cook organised it; she has just had a baby and as she is feeling the lack of culinary outings, her solution is for Mohammed to go to the mountain. I'm certainly not complaining - I had a great deal of fun talking cooking, cooking, and yes, more cooking! and the food (somewhat unsurprisingly) was fantastic. The other attendees were Jeanne of Cook Sister!, Jennifer who runs her own cooking school, Eat Drink Talk, and Susan who runs her own catering company, Joy of Taste.

I made Brie Tartlets and Prune Tartlets, and there was also Smoked Salmon on Ryebread with wasabi cream cheese, Beef Carpaccio Sandwiches with garlic mayonnaise & parmesan cheese, Chive Mini Scones with ham, mascapone and red onion marmalade, Myer Lemon Curd, Ham & Cheese Paprika Muffins, Fruit Scones with a variety of tasty preserves & clotted cream, Almond Pansyshell Cookies, and Fruit & Custard Tartlets. All of it tasted gorgeous.

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I was particularly pleased to finally get a taste of a Myer Lemon. I've heard a lot about them from American cooking friends, but I've never seen them in the UK. Jennifer says they are rather like a cross between a mandarin and a lemon (the curd was definitely an orange shade of yellow) and they have a thinner skin. The curd was delicious and definitely sweeter than a normal lemon. I'm now wondering if they can be grown in the *cough* sunny climes of Berkshire...

Jennifer also brought along a new import from Borough Market - a Finger Lime (Citrus australasica). At first glance I took it to be some sort of gherkin, but it's a cylindrical shaped lime, about an inch in diameter and three inches long. It has very large globular vesicles (the little seedlike juice-filled sacs you get in citrus fruit) and apparently is marketed as 'lime caviar'. The taste was amazing - a real punch of lime, without the bitter aftertaste.

As Jennifer said, it would be perfect as a garnish or in cocktails. It seems that they grow in shades of green and red (although the taste is the same) and I can just imagine how lovely it would be to have little lime and ruby droplets glowing on a dish. They would be just as pretty as pomegranate seeds, and without the pip too! I'd never even heard of this fruit before (apparently it only grows in lowland rainforests in Eastern Australia) and have to say - as an ardent lime fan - that I was completely enthralled with it. Jeanne and I are planning to visit Borough Market on Easter Saturday, so I will try to find some.

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P.S. For those of you in London, both the Myer Lemons and the Finger Limes can occasionally be found at Borough Market at Booths Mushrooms, the large fruit & veggie stall opposite the Brindisa stall on Rochester Walk.

Bang! Bang!

Sometimes eating out (or at a certain relative's house) can be a risky undertaking, but now you can dare the unpalatable deliberately with Chocolate Russian Roulette:

"Chocolate Russian Roulette: A fantastic party icebreaker or even for a boring Friday afternoon in the office! A box of 12 praline filled milk chocolate bullets, except one of them has got chilli in it! Spin the spinner on the front of the box then bite the bullet!"

Euro Blogging By Post #4

Its hour come round at last, the fourth Euro Blogging by Post is here, run by Andrew of Spittoon. No theme this time, just what you feel like, and the date set to post your parcels is Monday 20th March.

For further details and to sign up to the Euro-foodbloggers' mystery parcel (so much nicer than mystery meat!) exchange, check out Andrew's post.

Gifts and WFN update

Last week was my lucky week, culinary gift-wise!

Firstly, some lovely but unknown person sent me a St Valentine's Day present of two bottle of Gran Campo Viejo Cava, which according to online resources is a very nice little sparkly. I'm a firm believer in the idea that waking up in the morning is reason enough to open bubbly, so this weekend I'll be cracking one open and celebrating (and thank you Anonymous Giver, if you're reading this!).

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Secondly, I won a cookbook from one of fresh magazine's competitions - somewhat aptly entitled Fresh Indian: Over 80 Healthy Indian Recipes. It's by Sunil Vijayakar, author of various other cookbooks on Indian cuisine, wok food and deepfrying. The book offers a wide array of recipes declared to be light, fresh, healthy and void of the heavy spicing, heavy cream, heavy oil and heavy taste that 'English Indian' food is infamous for. A quick flick through seems to back this claim up, as well as showing some gorgeous food photography. An interesting addition is the nutritional information for each serving, as well as a "Healthy Tip" for each dish. All in all, a very nice freebie.

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And finally, here's links to a couple of articles I wrote for the Paper Palate on the Well Fed Network:

Review: Fresh magazine March 2006 issue

Recipe: Caesar Salad with Tabasco Onions  (yum!)

Just the thing to start you baking!

*cough* and a little suggestion for my family & friends *cough*

Silicups

Reusable cupcake papers! The wonders of silicon strike again.

Foodography

Good news for the snap-happy - the very talented Andrew of Spittoon/Spittoon Extra and Sam of Posh & Becks have started up a new venture - Foodography - to help those of us who like to take photos of our consumables and who want to improve their trigger finger artistry.

The Foodography group is based on Flickr and every few weeks will be posting a new thematic challenge, with the subsequent posts being constructively critiqued by the group.

I haven't had time (or fruit!) to take a photo yet myself, but the group has already improved my skills - it inspired me to actually sit down and reread my camera manual for the first time since buying it. And I discovered several things I'd forgotten, been doing wrong or were unaware of (huh? I have colour filters? I can take movies in sepia? ooh! panorama shots!).

My immediate reaction was to dash off, adjust my camera, and take a photo of a Spanish Salad I'd made for The Paper Palatte (which sadly I can't show here). I was thrilled to find the focus, light, colour and contrast balance were perfect. The photo needed no 'tweaking' in PhotoShop at all.

A good chunk of the appeal of food is in the visual and I love sharing that almost as much as I love sharing recipes. So join Foodography and show off your skills, improve your snapshots, help other foodie photographers and generally have fun!

The current challenge is Orange Is Not The Only Fruit.