Another video from the Leiden market, this time focused on ilias of ilias delicatessen, a born salesman! [flickr video=9165049379 secret=ca03b516ca w=500 h=280]
Video: Dutch Niewe Haring, in season and on camera
Hollandse Nieuwe Haring. Dutch new herring – of the season. Hollandse Nieuwe is the season’s first herring, which starts appearing at the beginning of June. Only Herring caught between May and July can be called ‘nieuwe‘. Yes, its the season for and of many things, home and abroad. And nowhere in the world is Herring season more celebrated than in The Netherlands.
Home again,….in Holland
Not a single thing has changed. The office is the same – the carpets are still on the wall. The sandwich shop is now a hub: re-designed with upstairs seating. The coffee shop still serves baby cappuccinos, my delight – milky with only a hint of coffee. I ignore the cakes, delicious as they look. The people at the front desk haven’t changed- same faces, same hair and same attitude – friendly but not overly so.
Nigeria’s Wet Season Produce: May/June
I can’t call it summer here, for it is always warm in Nigeria and mostly sunny. What I can say is the rains are here. In full force and my frustrations rise to a head about this time. Every year. Apparently, I do not learn. If I did things would be different. For I know the season of wet. Wet. Wet. The season when white school trainers washed on a Friday afternoon are dry on the outside on a Sunday night but soaked still on the inside. These trainers have been like signposts the entire weekend. I’ve walked past them...
Technique: How to Brulee, without Broiler or Blowtorch
Are you like me? With a temperamental broiler in your kitchen/oven? The net effect of which is no broiling? Without a blow torch for reasons of border control and air travel rules & regulations? Yet with a deep desire to crack a sugar glass crust? Specifically creme brûlée, restaurant-style…….in your own kitchen. Never has burnt cream been so appealing. To me! Say it with me (French accent et al). Creme Brûlée. crem broo lay. That luscious dessert of just-set custard, with a wonderful chapeau (topping) of crackable caramel.
Travel by Plate: Tales of Moroccan Mint Tea
Our ‘dining room voyages’ begin with mint tea – thanks to Morocco and its famous tea culture. We drink our Nigerian version, out of a rather English teapot from Turkish tulip glasses – evidence of our global identity. We love it. Mint is somewhat vital to our family’s happiness. For months, our garden blooms with its bright green leaves. Then we drink and eat the leaves and when our growing season is past, the D-Line street market, known as Port Harcourt’s ‘Fruit Garden’ serves us well. It wasn’t always so – I grew up on good ole English tea.
Banga Soup: Love in a Claypot
Tales by Oritsegbemi Emmanuel Jakpa With the spliced rhythm of tribal Africa, with the pulse, and raw hide cloak of riddles, with the drizzling monsoon on lemon grass, with the serene river songs of the canaries, with the dim light of the oil lamps, I reflect on the times when under the tropical moon fierce with shine like the sun, elders poured into the open palms of my mind, the stories of tortoise, and of birds; stories that are wise, never fading off the memory, older than wine, taste like starch and banga soup that’s eaten in a clay pot,...
Edinburgh, by Instagram
I’ve been away in Edinburgh, where love has taken me by surprise. For love has a way of doing that, doesn’t it? Be it love for man, child, and even city. All my life, I’ve dreamt of loving only a handful of cities –Tokyo in the spring when the cherry blossoms perfume the air and carpet the ground in white and pink and Paris all year round, from rue to café – surely my destiny is French. So I wasn’t prepared to fall head over hills in love with Edinburgh.
35 things to do with Meyer Lemons
Consider this the sequel to the LA Times’s Lemon List ‘100 things to do with a Meyer Lemon’, essential reading for Meyer Lemon buffs. Like me. Indeed one can find a multitude of ways to worship the Meyer. #17: Give a Lemon Lesson. Watch children chomp on it with excitement Below are 34 35 of my absolute favourite ways. Live with Meyer Lemons, in your fridge. Deep freezer. Pantry. Admire them, embrace them, share them too. Make your husband use them as aftershave (thanks Lara :-))