It is National Honey Week this week and while we are sweet enough as we are, the complex flavours in honey add a wonderful depth of flavour to dishes whether they are sweet or savoury.
Spring is perfect for light, fresh food full of flavour and since sushi opened our palates (and heads) to the idea that raw fish could be tasty, South American dish ceviche has become increasingly popular. Celebrated Argentinian restaurant Gaucho has had this cured seafood dish on their menu for ten years now and is having a ceviche dinner at Gaucho Piccadilly to mark the occassion. ‘Ceviche is the ideal summer dish as it has a perfect balance between the oily fish and the tartness of the citrus,’ Fernando Trocca, executive chef of Gaucho Grill says. ‘The trick is to use the freshest and best quality fish you can find. Once you’ve got the hang of the traditional recipes you can then start experimenting with twists on the classics – I’ve really enjoyed creating original new recipes with more unusual ingredients for the new Gaucho ceviche menu – it’s such a simple dish but there is so much you can do with it.’
With Easter this weekend there is no doubt that we will be indulging in our fair share of chocolate eggs and enjoying the four day weekend – hopefully in the sunshine. But it is also a fabulous reason to get the family together, brighten the house with some decorations and start some new family traditions for this spring holiday.
If you haven’t realised by now, the French macaron is the new cupcake. And why not, they are delicate, pretty, sophisticated and you can choose from an array of colours and flavours to match any menu or scheme.
When they first receive a script, actors often scan its pages to count how many lines they’ve got—or, if it’s a TV series, to see if their character gets killed off. Rupert Penry-Jones is no different, but he’s got an extra reason for having a thumb through—he wants to find out if he has any naked scenes. And he utters an almost audible sigh of relief when he discovers he doesn’t.
A trip to the hairdresser has never been straight forward in our family. I have been known to send my husband to a different hair salon each month over the past six years. His Middle Eastern background granted him a beautiful Afro which has always required, in my opinion, special attention. My eldest son, five, inherited the tight curls or the “scruffy hair”, as he calls it. My younger son’s straight hair seems to fall directly in his eyes. My own hair’s not much better with its radical transformation into hay and straw after my second pregnancy. Thankfully for our family we have now discovered Michael Van Clarke (The irony is that Michael himself was my husband’s discovery. But don’t ask), a true gem on the quiet corner of Beaumont Street just in the heart of lovely Marylebone.
St Patrick’s Day is a day, it seems, to wear green, drink, be jovial and celebrate all things Irish. However if like me you are not too keen on the classic Guinness stout, don’t despair, we have a fabulous way to join in the celebrations and make it more palatable - with chocolate of course.
Holding the front door open with one hand and blowing kisses with the other, I feel an all too familiar sense of panic as I leave the flat to meet my husband for a romantic anniversary dinner. I’m SURE our nanny thinks I’m a horrible mother for leaving before bedtime. Three texts to her en route to the restaurant and no reply. I’m SURE she’s reading them extra stories to compensate for my lack of attention. As I hand my coat to the coat check with one hand, I ring the home phone with the other. No answer Must mean then aren’t sleeping yet. Must mean they are upset with me!
Beat those winter blues with this mouth-watering Open Lasagne of Parmigiano Reggiano Cheese, Prawns and Baby Squid – a great twist on the classic lasagne recipe!
A life threatening illness can have you reassessing your life and the choices you made, just like in award-winning director Gus Van Sant’s film Restless. It follows Annabel Cotton, a beautiful and charming terminal cancer patient with a deep felt love of life and the natural world. Enoch Brae is a young man who has dropped out of the business of living, after an accident claimed the life of his parents. When these two outsiders chance to meet at a funeral, they find an unexpected common ground in their unique experiences of the world.
Belle About Town is for the woman who is time deprived but style rich.
“Fashion is not something that exists in dresses only. Fashion is in the sky, in the street, fashion has to do with ideas, the way we live, what is happening.” – Coco Chanel.
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