Category: Lifestyle

This drink marries scrumptious cognac, Canadian maple syrup, lemon juice, orange bitters and bone-dry cider to create a complex yet approachable tipple that’s hard to have just the one of. The BaptisteServes 1 50ml good cognac – we use Rémy Martin 173810ml maple syrup10ml fresh lemon juice1 dash orange bittersDry French cider, to topOrange zest, […]

With a son in the business, I feel as keenly as anyone what pubs and restaurants have been going through these past few months, so it’s no surprise that they’ve been turning to other avenues to pay the bills. And a “pivot” to selling booze has been one obvious option. Of course, this isn’t entirely […]

Good news being slim on the ground right now, I greeted rumours of Big Jo’s arrival with a sense of joy. Big Jo may sound a bit like a terrifically handy neighbour with massive hands who you could trust to hammer up a flat-pack shed, but is actually a capacious new pizza parlour that opened […]

You can ripen a not-quite-there papaya overnight simply by scoring the skin a millimetre or two deep from top to bottom in several lines. The next day, it will be orange, ripe and ready to eat. If you have the opposite problem and your papaya is over-ripe, it may be best to cook it, cutting […]

My love for falafel knows no bounds, but my love for deep-frying does. So this week’s recipe is my offering for a baked falafel, as crunchy and crisp on the outside as the genuine article, and as soft and fluffy within. The key to all good falafel, I’ve learned, is to use dried chickpeas (tinned […]

I’ve recently rediscovered my love for simple, single-layered cakes. For a special occasion, I’m more than happy to spend a whole afternoon levelling, filling and attempting perfectly crisp buttercream edges, but the sort of cake I fancy during the week is a lot more humble. Something that’s easy to pull together, suits thick slices and […]

There are certain food items that make everything better. A well-made pie is one of them. The Windmill, a pub in London’s Mayfair, now serves very well-made pies. In the days following my dinner there, I kept thumbing open the photograph on my phone and gazing upon their steak and kidney pie, with its glazed […]