Coffee

I like everything about people's kitchens. This is my friend Joanna's kitchen counter, with coffee ready to go. We took it outside and sat in the bright spring sunshine.

A Room in Charlie's Squat, 1975

I like to think of this blog as swerving from present day back into other decades of my life. The seventies in London offered particularly charming vignettes, such as this scene from a room in a North London house of decayed grandeur.

Some Sketchbook Pages

Cow Parsley

Cow parsley season in the English countryside. I went for an adventurous walk today, with my map and binoculars. I walked for nearly two hours and saw no-one. There were buzzards and sky larks, yellowhammers, and butterflies with yellow-tipped wings.

New Recipes from a new Cookbook

I used my new Ottolenghi cookbook for two recipes tonight. Spinach salad with marinated dates and red onions, and fried pita bread and almonds. Barley risotto with feta and caraway seeds.

Feet in Greek Sandals.

My feet and my friends' feet under a table in Corfu in 1976.

Stefan, 1975

This is Stefan Wulfing holding a scythe. He came into my life for a while. He was 16 years old, one of the people hitch-hiking around in those days. We lived in a commune in Flanders. I wish I could find him again now.

The Man in the Field

In 1975, when I was travelling in Europe, I landed in a commune near Ghent. Where in my room I found a photograph of a man standing in a field. I loved this picture and kept it safe. Later I found out the man was wearing a Swedish army greatcoat, and holding a handful of onions for planting. His name was Kirk, and eventually I met him, married him, and we had children together.

My History, Cake

Me and my Dad in the late seventies. Dad is wearing an antique linen peasant shirt from Belgium.  And I am wearing a small silver brooch with my grandmother's name on - Dora Wainwright.

My grandmother, Dora Wainwright.

An Inspirational Cookbook

 I went to Bury St. Edmunds with my friend Suzy. I asked her what kind of food she was cooking these days and she has been very inspired by Yotam Ottolenghi. So on impulse I decided to buy his book Jerusalem. It is filled with beautiful photographs and recipes for things like butternut squash, aubergines, beetroot, and courgettes combined with garlic and dates and lemons.