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The red admiral butterfly finally stayed still long enough for me to photograph it.
The crab apple tree is having some sort of mid-life crisis. Rotting fruit on one branch; blossom on another.
The cosmos from my mum's garden have lasted at least five days in their jug.
Katie made 13 coconut fairy cakes for her friend's 13th birthday iced with 13 different colours.
There were cobnuts from Kent at the farmshop. Sweet and milky, we put them in the mortar and bashed them with a pestle.
Nigel Slater is the best food writer in the world. I don't just mean that he writes a good recipe, he does of course, but that he is a wonderful writer as well. This is a book to take to bed and read like a novel as well as to keep in the kitchen and cook from. I shall be doing both.
Jonathan Lovekin's photography as always is gorgeous. Above is a chocolate disc with rose petals and sea salt.
Like you I enjoy Nigel Slater's writing as well as his recipes - always simple and never pretentious. Love the pretty cakes! Nature is totally confused isn't it this year but how lovely to see a little blossom on your crab apple maybe we will give winter a miss this year and go straight to spring?
ReplyDeleteI've been swithering over the new NS for a few days but you've decided me - I shall buy it!
ReplyDeleteSwithering eh? I shall be adding that word to my vocabulary.
DeleteI've just got Nigels' new book, I'm trying to save it to read on my hols in October, but I keep sneaking a peek.....I love his writing. The first Kitchen Diaries is probably my favourite book ever.
ReplyDeleteI love Katie's multi coloured cakes :-)
Sue xx
Chocolate disk with rose petals and sea salt?! That alone makes it sound worth the price of admission!
ReplyDeleteI'm pacing myself. Hugh's Three Good Things hit the kitchen table first but Nigel is next. His first diaries are so spattered I know the next one is going to go the same way.
ReplyDeleteMy daughter keeps hiding the first Kitchen diaries in her room, she says she is going to take it with her when she moves out - over my dead body. The second book is keeping me entertained at night. I will actually cook from it soon I am just enjoying his writing. We have tried a ' Hugh' recipe - lovely. I also got the 'Nigella' because we all enjoy Italian food so much. I need someone to build me a set of cook book shelves, they are up in the spare room, no use there.
ReplyDeleteSadly my whole crab apple tree looks like the left hand side of your picture (minus the fruit).
ReplyDeleteI read a forecast suggesting a very hard winter. But the same guy said that this time last year...
What strange happenings on your Crab Apple tree, mind you, my Wallflowers have started to bloom again too.
ReplyDeleteSo your Nigel book arrived at last, it looks gorgeous and since I too find him a super writer, shall have to buy the book.
You will, it's marvellous.
Deleteseeing those cobnuts from Kent made me feel homesick... sob,sob.
ReplyDeleteYes, NS writes wonderfully and I have followed his TV series assiduously too. I not only make the recipes, I want to cook in that kitchen, especially if involves using that pestle and mortar - might be good for those cobnuts.
ReplyDeleteDear Sue
ReplyDeleteI picked a cosmos flower which had become a bit battered and it lasted really well in water. However, I didn't realise that it would also root just in water too. I'm not sure what to do with it now - too cold to plant out, too long to keep indoors until Spring...decisions, decisions!
Best wishes
Ellie
Nigel Slater is a national treasure.
ReplyDeleteHear, hear!
DeleteAh, Nigel...I'm in awe of your crab apple tree (ours is sulking this year- no blossom, no fruit, not that many leaves to be honest) Do you find that reading cookery books before you sleep gives you foodie dreams?
ReplyDeleteLoving the new look of the blog looks great!
ReplyDeleteI live in Kent and have cobnuts growing wild down the road from my house, you have inspred me to pick some, i'm just not sure what to do with them after? any ideas?
Gem
xx
We just crack 'em and eat 'em.
DeleteOHIO think. Am the only person in the world not won over by NS; though I must say that chocolate disc sounds divine.
ReplyDeleteD'you know, sometimes I hate this iPad. I typed "Oh. I think", not OHIO. Grrrr.
ReplyDeleteDid wonder what on earth you were on about for a minute there Dotty!
DeleteJust bought it in Southsea and lugged it across the Atlantic - have made the leek and cheese tarts - wonderful but needed a much hotter oven and the calories (well, I did eat six) absolutely delicious. Making the baked chicken with tomatoes and olive tonight.
ReplyDeleteYum, both those recipes appealed to me.
DeleteI did a major cook book cull when we moved house last year but am creeping up again (have just counted: 61! eek!) Sounds a lot but they do all fit on one 6ft long shelf. If KD II is roughly the same size as KD I then I know how much I have to rehome to justify its purchase!
ReplyDeleteIt's a good 160 pages bigger Elaine :)
DeleteI love katy's fairycakes.... so cute! Will check out for Nigel's book! I don't own any of his, would this be the best of his books you reckon? I do love watching his tv programmes.. x Pati
ReplyDeleteAppetite is the one I'd recommend Pati. In this Nigel presents basic recipes with suggestions for varying them; for example. But honestly they're all worth having.
DeleteI've only recently discovered Nigel Slater & a copy of KDII is on its way to me. I've also just bought Tender & sat down yesterday afternoon to look through it. As you say, he's a very good writer, not just about food but about his garden as well. I've tried several of his recipes & I love their simplicity, no fussy ingredients or methods. Along with Hugh F-W, he's my new favourite cook.
ReplyDelete