Category: Uncategorized

My very dear friend Oggie died unexpectedly last month. I know several of you read his weblog, and his friends have put an announcement there today; there may be a newspaper obituary later this week.

Oggie was a wonderful friend. He was one of the most incisive, funniest people I’ve met, and I feel very privileged to have known him. We all miss him dreadfully.

I’ve not been around for a couple of months – apologies to all those who’ve emailed. Normal service resumes today, so please keep checking back.

A year and a bit of food blogging had done awful things to the way some of my clothes were fitting, so I’ve put the last couple of months to good use and have been on a rather tedious diet. The next month or so promises to be interesting blog-fodder – I’m off to the US skiing again this year (there being no snow in Europe), but I’ll be stopping off in Las Vegas for a few days beforehand and am hoping to snag a booking at Le Cirque or Picasso, as well as Michael Mina’s new restaurant at Mandalay Bay which, of course, you’ll get to hear all about. Sad news for Vegas-loving foodies; Commander’s Palace, one of my favourite Vegas restaurants, is closing from today (Jan 16). For the uninitiated, Commander’s Palace is an exceptionally good Creole restaurant, whose impeccable service, 25c Martinis and glorious, glorious Tasso Shrimp Henican were always a real highlight of our trips to Vegas. They were to reopen at The Palazzo (the Venetian’s new extension), but apparently talks with the Venetian have stalled – I’ll let you know if I hear any news about a new location. (Of course, the original Commander’s Palace in New Orleans is still open and still marvellous, by all accounts.) Rumour has it that the restaurant location in the Miracle Mile shopping mall (formerly the Desert Passage) will become a Jamaican restaurant.

More sad news comes from Oriental City in Edgware. It’s still open for now, but there are plans to redevelop the site it occupies for housing, a DIY superstore and a school. The developers are making vague noises about rehousing the retailers and food stalls when the current building is bulldozed, but there is very little detail as yet; for now, watch this space and I’ll keep you updated. Do visit soon if you can – it’s a great experience which may not be around for much longer.

So, what have I been up to for the last couple of months? Well, I’ve been eating a lot of porridge with skimmed milk, discovering that a cappuccino really doesn’t work with skimmed milk in it, and that it is highly irritating to watch your husband eat toast and honey every evening before bed when you can’t.

There’s plenty to blog about, anyway. I’ve been to visit my brother in France, where I spent an hour or so annoying market stallholders with a camera. I bought a truffle in Cambridge, learned a new application for my Chinese cleaver, gained custody of a box of cocoa nibs, found a new and excellent supplier of herbs, worked out how to make a pilaf in the rice-cooker, and have come into possession of a moulded brick of tea. It’s good to be back – I’m off now to do something interesting with some bits of chicken.

My friend Oli needs a double lung transplant. He’s only 24, the same age as my brother – Oli has cystic fibrosis, and will not survive without a transplant.

Oli’s been blogging about the frustrating and exhausting search for a match here. Have a read, and if you’re not on the donor register, please think about joining, and encourage your friends to do the same.

Oli’s blog
UK Transplant
Live Life Then Give Life

Gastronomy Domine is going on holiday for two weeks – we’re renting a house on the Côte d’Azur, where we won’t have any Internet access. (This suits me fine; it’ll be good to spend a couple of weeks gazing at something other than a monitor. I’m going to start by gazing at some cafés and then move on to gazing at a couple of restaurants.)

I’ll be cooking and eating out lots, so watch this space for a flurry of posts on my return. I leave you with some pictures which, for obvious reasons, didn’t make the grade on earlier posts.

My parents have just come back from Madeira, where they stayed at the Savoy hotel and were captivated by a tea blend which is specific to the hotel. It was a hot, hot day, and they were amazed to be as refreshed as they were by a pot of Darjeeling. Some vigorous questioning revealed that tea wasn’t the only thing that had gone into the pot.

I’m not one for blended teas, and Earl Grey, Rose Pouchong and Lapsang Souchong (preferably from Taylors of Harrogate) are as far as I’m usually happy to venture into the land of flavoured teas. It took a bit of prodding from Mummy to get me to accept a cup from her precious stash – and my, I’m glad I did.

The tea that forms the base of the Savoy blend isn’t any old tea; no sweepings from the floor of the tea factory for the Savoy. It’s a FTGFOP (First Tippy Growth, Flowery Orange Pekoe) Darjeeling; a pinkish and very fine tea. The Savoy transforms it into something quite wonderful with the bizarre-sounding addition of a small proportion of dried lemongrass, cinnamon, peppermint and hibiscus – it’s not overtly herby, but very refreshing, cooling and extremely delicious on a hot summer’s day. The hotel recommended that the tea should be drunk with milk and no sugar.

Only one bag of the tea came back from Madeira, and while good Darjeeling is pretty easy to get your hands on, the herbs can be hard to find in the shops if you want to experiment with your own blend. Starchild International is a very good resource for buying dried plants and herbs online; try to look past the new-age quackery and be impressed that you’ve found somewhere to buy that powdered orris root you’ve been looking for all year.

Here in Cambridgeshire, we’re recovering (via thunderstorms) from a heatwave. I don’t know about you, but there are certain kinds of weather which make me feel like I really can’t handle hot food. Cold things on bread are what’s in order. Happily, I’ve been fortunate cheesewise recently; Lorna, a Cambridge reader had been to Lancashire and brought a slab of something called Lancashire Tasty back with her, and I had found a large hunk of Gruth Du (Black Crowdie) in a Bury St Edmunds delicatessen.

The Lancashire Tasty is on the right. Three Lancashire cheeses were on offer, said Lorna; Crumbly, Creamy and Tasty. She asked which was which and was informed (I can’t replicate the accent she used here in print, but believe me, it was good): ‘Ah, lass. Crumbly’s crumbly, Creamy’s creamy, and Tasty’s tasty.’

Finding ‘Tasty’ the most apt of the three adjectives offered, Lorna toted a chunk all the way back to Cambridge for me – thank you very much.

They weren’t kidding. It was very, very tasty. This is a very sharp, lactic cheese; the sort that makes your salivary ducts ache with work. It was exceptionally good with a soft, brown, seeded bread. I like the Duchy Originals Mixed Seed or Sunflower Seed and Honey breads, both of which are organic. You can find them in most good UK supermarkets. I’d like to try cooking with this cheese (impossible, sadly, since it was so good we ate it all in one go so there wasn’t any to experiment with). I suspect a very, very good souffle could be made with it; it’s got enough bite for the flavour to continue to sing through when cooked. My parents-in-law are separated from Lancashire by the Pennines. I shall have to take up mountaineering next time we visit.

I bought the Gruth Du (on the left) because I thought it might be the same as a mystery cheese I ate about 16 years ago and haven’t been able t0 find since. Scottish readers might be able to help me out here; it was 1989, and I was playing in a youth orchestra at the Edinburgh Festival. The kids in the orchestra were put up at Napier Polytechnic (now Napier University), where the food was infinitely better than could have been expected. There was breakfast haggis and white pudding, and a cheese course with the excellent supper. The curiously wonderful cheese was, like Gruth Du, soft and rolled in oats, but its texture and taste were closer to butter than to cream cheese. The mystery cheese’s oats were, I think, toasted.

This Gruth Du was not anything like the mystery cheese, but it was excellent; rolled in oats and cracked black pepper, it’s a sharp, sour, almost lemony cream cheese, and we enjoyed it with oatcakes. I found it at Barwell & Co in Bury St Edmunds (39 Abbeygate Street, 01284 754084). If you’re in the area, do check them out; they sell some excellent pies, good local meats and a selection of really interesting delicatessen products.

A page from the BBC on Scottish cheeses makes me think that the buttery wonder might have been Caboc. If any readers of a Scottish bent have any more information about it, I’d love to hear from you.

UPDATE

Lorna, my personal cheese-angel, writes:

The Tasty was from Leagram Organic, by the way. (It seems to be called ‘mature’ on the website). Far better, I think, than Mrs Kirkham’s.

There’s a Lancashire cheese website here, which tells you all about producers (of whom there are apparently only 10).

Thanks Lorna!

I’ve bitten the bullet and bought my own domain. All new posts (and all of the old ones) will now appear at www.gastronomydomine.com, so please update your bookmarks and point your browsers thataway.

I leave you with a photograph of Mooncake the cat, about to get into some serious trouble for evildoing.