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Travels in Dorrrset, my loverrr

July 29, 2009 18 Comments Filed Under: Uncategorized

customer at choc star, camp bestival
The customers

Down to Dorset to work at Camp Bestival with Petra Chocstar in her chocolate icecream van. I’d learn to scoop properly she said. The finest technique is to do a long snail-like curl which makes the icecream look bigger than a firmly packed scoop. This is harder than it looks to achieve. Other rules: don’t miss out the edges of the tub when scooping because you’ll end up with a sticky fist by the time you get to the bottom.

We were an all girl outfit. Next door at the Thali tent, they’d decided we were feminist separatists.
It helps to be small to work in the van. Your view of the outside world, and their view of you, is restricted to a tiny hatch. There is a little step upon which kids haul themselves up. One kid tried to grab the money under the counter. All of the parents are under the impression that their kids are cute. They give the kids the money and let them take the icecream. The child then climbs down from the step, holding the icecream in their wobbly pudgy mit. The icecream drops off the cone. The parent returns complaining defensively that the

“icecream wasn’t put on properly”.

You replace it.

In general kids want cones (shove the icecream down firmly for little kids due to aforesaid problem) and adults have cups. We started to run out of cones.

“Do you mind a cup?” I asked an adult.

“Yes, I mind. I want a cone”

whimpered this fully grown adult reverting to five years old. Ice cream vans bring out the kid in everyone.

Petra is no idiot: she does hot chocolates as well, for this, after all, is England, where you have all four seasons in one day.
I ended up flirting for Britain through that little hatch; wearing brightly coloured clothes, calling out “cute dad alert” and enticing the mummies to order themselves Chocolate Martini shots. By day three I was having to ask each customer to repeat their order at least four times.

“It’s a bloody festival” I’d explain wearily “What do you expect? Efficiency?”

I started calling cones ‘scones’ and confusing mint choc chip with caramel and chocolate. The strawberry being ‘natural’ was confusingly not pink but beige. Bring on the colourings and e numbers I say! Some of these parents however were buying icecreams for their kids at 9am. Then they’d wonder why the little bastards were so hyper.
Camp Bestival is fairly middle class. Somebody complained that security forced them to decant their balsamic vinegar into a plastic bottle. Half the festival was under the age of five. You saw all these toddlers rocking out to dubstep.
PJHarvey played. She’s a local Dorset girl. No photographer were allowed in the pit to photograph her. Her people insisted that all the other music around be turned down. PJHarvey is very skinny with a large turned up nose. She looks like the childcatcher in Chittychittybangbang.

customer at choc star, camp bestival

Silent Disco

Strangest was the ‘silent disco’: you are given headphones as you enter the tent. If you don’t wear the headphones it’s a surreal experience, like going to a deaf person’s convention. People are writhing in silence, enclosed in a private world of sound. Once in a while, they will all rise in unison and pump the air with their fists, in the direction of the plinth where the DJ fiddles with his turntables. The DJ rarely acknowledges his audience.At festivals in Britain, people wear wellies even when the sun is shining. A festival is a chance to wear all the clothes you’d never dare wear at home; the poncho you picked up somewhere ethnic, the flamenco dress, the fairy wings, glitter, animal masks…

I did a naughty thing while at camp bestival. Something I’ve never done before…I slept with a married man. He was a photographer there and I met him in the photographers pit (I was doubling up career wise and combining icecream girl with my other profession of rock photographer). I didn’t even fancy him. He never told me he was married although I did wonder. At the end of the first evening, he invited me back to his pop up tent for warm cans of gin and tonic. I refused.
The second night, bored by the surfeit of toddlers and having no one to hang out with…I relented to have a ‘massage’. This massage seem to spread to my nether regions and one thing led to another.
Now people, the moral of the tale is NEVER EVER sleep with a married man. It’s wrong, not just ethically but also because once they’ve done their bit, the act is over, the man who formerly pursued you starts crying about how they were ‘unfaithful to their kids’ and how they ‘feel really bad‘ and how ‘they really only wanted to give you a massage‘. Like it’s your fault.
The next day, in the photographers pit, he acted oddly. Calling me over to one side, he said ‘can you do me a favour? Let’s draw a line under this’. ‘Do you think I’m going to tell your wife?’ I asked, shocked. ‘Er yeah’. I walked off angrily. I didn’t even have his phone number.
On Monday I found his card, something I had forgotten he had given me, in my bag. I’m going to have fun with this I thought. I texted him asking ‘Do you have a bunny rabbit?’. He called back. Amazingly he did have a sense of humour about it. But then he started crying ‘I’m wellin’ oop’ (he was from Birmingham) ‘I don’t want to lose me kids’. For fuck’s sake. I ended up being his counsellor, ordering him not to tell the wife to assuage his own guilt. Hanging up eventually, I realised, once more, ha! when will I learn? that I cannot have casual sex. I always develop feelings for the guy. I realised, once more, with a deadening thud of the heart, that I’m alone. He will go back to wifey and pretend to be a good guy and I will…carry on being single.

river Cottage, Axminster, Dorset
old fashioned sweet shop, Axminster, Dorset
old fashioned sweet shop, Axminster, Dorset

After Camp Bestival I drove to River Cottage canteen in Axminster. They held a food stall at the festival and I met their chef Tim Maddams, and very briefly, Hugh Fearney-Whittingstall. Unfortunately River Cottage Canteen was closed by the time I got there. I managed to buy a couple of local cheeses… And nipped into the old fashioned sweet shop next door, buying salty liquorice, mega sour lemon balls, butterscotch gums. Nowadays of course they are not sold in quarters (which is actually 115g) but 100g. Mondays seem to be quite dead in Dorset which is a shame when a festival is on.
I had arranged to stay at the house of some people I met through Twitter @greendrawers and @eatdorset that night…a pop up bed and breakfast! We arranged to meet at sunset on the beach at Burton Bradstock where there is a fish ‘shack’ called The Hive Beach Café.

 The Hive beach cafe, Dorset
 The Hive beach cafe, Dorset
The counter
 The Hive beach cafe, Dorset
The fishmonger bit
fish n chips,  The Hive beach cafe, Dorset
My cod n chips
squid,  The Hive beach cafe, Dorset
The squid
 The Hive beach cafe, Dorset
The View
crab, The Hive beach cafe, Dorset
I was all prepared to LOVE this place; friendly staff and huge Disney-like plates of food. My favourite part was that they didn’t have a door. You had to find your way through the plastic that surrounded the shack. I managed to slither through a gap. Their minted mushy peas were fantastic, I’ve never liked them before and now I am a convert. However my ‘tempura’ fried cod was not fresh, a little dry in fact and the chips were of the oven variety. Goddammit.
The salad was varied on a leaf level but the dressing consisted of vinegar only. @greendrawers liked her crab but @eatdorset found his squid a little underdone. The setting is so wonderful…pleeease tweak the food…
@eatdorset is author and chef Michael Feasey who used to run a famous restaurant called The Nosh Brothers. He’s written a fantastic book called ‘Eat Dorset’. Dorset is a foodies heaven…in the book is a picture of Darren Brown of Shellseekers who hand dives scallops and oysters, selling them at his stall in Borough Market and to restaurants. I actually met him last week at the TioPepe sherry tasting at Camino, a Spanish restaurant in Kings Cross. Passionately against dredging, Darren gave a master class in how to shuck an oyster and fillet a fish. He used to go to school with Mark Hix, who has a restaurant in Lyme Regis. Darren is in his 40s. He’s a commercial drysuit diver, going down on his own in rough seas on a nitrogen mix.

“How long can you keep that up?” I asked him.

“Probably another five years” he said “I’m quite old for a commercial diver”.

The next day, after about two hours sleep…it’s amazing when you meet fellow tweeters, you carry on chatting away just like you did on twitter…I was led through the Telly Tubby green hills of Dorset to Beaminster where @greendrawers has her eco shop. She sells a mixture of goods, second hand furniture, clothes and people can refill their Ecover products there. Strangely, for an area which has mostly elderly people, baby clothes sell well.

“Grannies isn’t it?” explained @greendrawers “where else locally can they buy organic cotton baby clothes to send as presents, knowing they aren’t going to get a sniffy reaction from the parents?”

Remembering the nylon vomit pink and urine yellow cardies, so synthetic they’d give you electric shocks, that my nan knitted for babies, I nodded vigorously in agreement.
 Wild Garlic, Mat Follas
 Wild Garlic, Mat Follas
 Wild Garlic, Mat Follas
goats cheese salad,  Wild Garlic, Mat Follas
Goats cheese salad
goats cheese salad,  Wild Garlic, Mat Follas
Close up of the goats cheese salad with wild strawberries
lemon sole,  Wild Garlic, Mat Follas
The lemon sole
fennel from a local allotment,  Wild Garlic, Mat Follas
A present of allotment fennel brought in…
produce brought in by a local, Wild Garlic, Mat Follas
Wine berries, samphire and beet leaves brought in by a local
spider crab,  Wild Garlic, Mat Follas
Spider crab
tables,  Wild Garlic, Mat Follas
tables,  Wild Garlic, Mat Follas
The gorgeous tables
toilet,  Wild Garlic, Mat Follas
The toilets, a subject of conversation when Mat blogged his opening on Guardian Word of Mouth blog
cardamom chocolate brownie, Wild Garlic, Mat Follas
The cardomom flavoured chocolate brownie
Lavender icecream topped with borage flower, Wild Garlic, Mat Follas
Lavender icecream topped with Borage flower
Berry Mess, Wild Garlic, Mat Follas
Berry Mess
Mat Follas chats to the customers
Mat chats to the customers
Mat follas smokes food, smoked mash is a signature dish
Mat smokes food, smoked mash is a signature dish
Beaminster is also where this year’s Masterchef winner Mat Follas has opened his restaurant ‘The Wild Garlic’.
Mat talked about winning Masterchef: they had to stay up in London for several weeks in a horrible building with bars on the windows.

“To stop us escaping I guess” joked Mat.

“Is it a fix?” I asked “Do you think they have chosen who will win from the beginning?”

“Not at all” replied Mat “Some times I was up against really ‘televisual’ competitors…one gorgeous woman who did Gluten-free food, another babe in a mini skirt, but I got through. I asked John and Gregg the presenters why and they simply said ‘Your food tastes better’. It was quite brave of them to put four guys through to the final.”

“I never imagined I would get through. The first round I was surrounded by people bandying around French cooking terms. I can’t speak French, I’m an amateur from New Zealand. One guy was actually French but the food he produced went horribly wrong”

Mat is brave opening a restaurant, his competitors are doing ‘stages’ (work experience)around the top kitchens. But if you have a family, responsibilities, you can’t do that, you just have to go for it and learn on the job.
Tim Maddams of The River Cottage joked “from what I’ve heard, Mat can actually cook, which is more than you can say about most head chefs…”
I started with the goats cheese salad with a little chilli and tomato bread and butter pudding.
The goats cheese was delicately caramelised and the salad was amazing; little purple heads of viola, marigold petals, interesting herbs, poking through the variety of lettuce leaves, one of which tasted of caraway seeds.
The savoury bread & butter pudding was creamy and soft, full of flavour. Perhaps I would add a little parmesan crust to it…
For main course I was served an entire lemon sole, slashed either side, with capers. This fish was incredibly fresh, served on a bed of local samphire, the sea water just seeping through with each al dente bite. I also had crushed New Potatoes, simple but perfectly seasoned.
Puddings, reader, I had three;
1)The chocolate brownie, not too cake-like as many of them are, very light and flavoured with cardomom, served with red currants and crusted clotted cream
2) Lavender icecream, a creamy subtle vanilla with little sugared pods of lavender.
3) A berry mess of blueberries, red currants, meringue and cream
The prices are extremely reasonable, about a fiver for a starter, 12 quid for a main, and four quid for pudding. If you are driving to Dorset, do book a table, I recommend it.
The decor of the full dining room was simple, rustic but modern with pale sorrel green Farrow & Ball paint and fabulous thick oak tables with foodie quotes carved in the edges.
Mat went around the tables talking to people. He understands that a successful restaurant, especially if the owner has won a popular TV competition, depends on the personal touch to distinguish it.
As I sat there, watching people come in to make bookings, they would often bring a present from their garden or allotment. Locals popped in all the time, to bring crabs or local ingredients. It’s Mat’s restaurant, but I got the feeling that Dorset felt like they were, that horrible New Labour phrase, stake-holders in the project, wanting to add their knowledge.

Little Chef, Popham
Little Chef, Popham
ketchup, Little Chef, Popham
Little Chef, Popham
Little Chef, Popham
Little Chef, Popham
Little Chef, Popham
My last stop was at Heston Blumenthal’s Little Chef in Popham, at the junction where the A303 meets the M3. I’ve been wanting to visit, since watching the TV documentary where Heston attempts to transform the management’s attitude to food.
I was too tired and full to eat, just ordering a pot of tea, some tomatoes and mushrooms. The tomatoes did taste a little of ‘thyme’ as the menu vaunted but the mushrooms were ordinary. Butter? Can’t Little Chef afford butter?
The staff were lovely and the decor witty; a noughties take on the 1950s American diner.

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Comments

  1. Krista

    July 29, 2009 at 7:23 pm

    another day, another adventure. lovely, again, mml.

    Reply
  2. Sally's Chateau

    July 29, 2009 at 7:31 pm

    Glad you enjoyed your time in Dorset and in particular Beaminster and all it has to offer from Greendrawers to The Wild Garlic. It's a very picturesque part of the world and has its own special unique magic, don't attempt the sea however at The Hive Beach when the tide is on the turn !!

    Reply
  3. Mat Follas

    July 29, 2009 at 7:56 pm

    was great to meet you !
    I think I will put some parmesan (old winchester actually) on the bread pudding when I make it next
    See you on 10th in London x

    Reply
  4. @rebeccajago

    July 29, 2009 at 8:57 pm

    Hi. Loved your Dorset tales. I'm going to go and stay with my brother in Dorset in the autumn and get over to The Wild Garlic for sure. I went to the Little Chef Popham last February to try out the Heston menu. We were five typical London ladies on a lunch trip. we had a fab time, though, although the food was hit and miss (and we were charged £1 for ONE MUSHROOM poached in olive oil; that's a bit crazy isn't it?). But the staff were just wonderful, although the manager who featured in the tv series had already left: we had a great guy from Bristol who made the whole experience for us.
    Really enjoy your twitter posts, and looking forward to trying out one of your UR evenings.

    Reply
  5. Kavey

    July 30, 2009 at 7:39 am

    Really enjoyed reading about your adventures, particularly visiting Mat at The Wild Garlic – can't wait for my visit, in mid August!

    Reply
  6. Anonymous

    July 30, 2009 at 8:41 am

    I went to the Popham Little Chef on the way back from Camp Bestival too! Did you actually get mushrooms plural? Because they only gave me one tiny "slow roasted field mushroom" for £1.

    The parents of hyperactive kids pissed me off too. I was spinning outside the tent one day and this little girl touched the spinning wheel as it was going round. Her parents were right there so I figured they'd stop her. Then she put her foot between the spokes. Then touched the wheel again. I had to tell her it would eat her fingers if she kept doing that.

    Parents wanted to use us as a babysitting service while they went to watch music. I don't care how "family friendly" it is, I would not leave my 8 year-old alone at a festival.

    The River Cottage canteen was rubbish. My write up of the fest including River Cottage and Popham Little Chef is here: http://fingersandtoes.wordpress.com/2009/07/29/camp-bestival/

    Reply
  7. theundergroundrestaurant

    July 30, 2009 at 9:07 am

    As you can see I got two not very big mushrooms for my quid. Trouble was they were tasteless.
    Thanks everybody for your comments…Dorset really is food heaven.
    The River Cottage stall at Camp Bestival was, by all reports, disappointing. I've heard the canteen in Axminster is fantastic.But how can a meat eater provide good vegetarian food anyway? They just don't get it mostly.
    Festival food does need to improve and I'm planning to open up my own operation next year. All I need is a backer….
    I cooked at festivals all last summer and loved it. People would come to the cafe I worked for just to get decent vegetarian food.

    Reply
  8. The Curious Cat

    July 30, 2009 at 9:46 am

    Wow! Too much stuff in one entry – too much to comment on! Where do I start…okay Camp Bestival – ice-cream…very amusing. Last year I hijacked an ice-cream stall for a couple of hours at Bestival on the Isle of Wight (it was necessary as it was really pissing it down – we knew the seller anyway). It is funny that despite the rain and cold people still crave ice-cream! Lots of good tips here though if anyone ever fancies going into business…it is also quite interesting seeing the festival from this angle!

    As for the silent disco -OMIGOD! This is something I have always feared. It is a cool idea -don't get me wrong – but this to my mind is the complete break down of community and unity…well not completely I guess in this case as everyone was listening to the same tune but what if everyone was listening to something different?! It will happen one day…we'll all become unreachable islands…

    ach I'm being too dramatic and not very coherent but there is a thinking here that requires exploration….it is that whole idea that community is breaking down and the rise of the individual and virtual worlds and blah blah blah – I rant!

    As for food – wow – what a lot of interesting experiences! Lucky you – River Cottage, fish, Little Chef – you've been on a food oddssey from the looks of it! Most envious…. xxx

    Reply
  9. The Shed

    July 30, 2009 at 10:18 am

    You do get around my dear!
    Loved reading this, we're definitely going to head to The Wild Garlic if we manage to get that way in September.

    Keep 'em coming…see you Tuesday.
    xx

    http://www.theshedlikesfood.blogspot.com

    Reply
  10. The Curious Cat

    July 30, 2009 at 10:47 am

    PS Matt's restaurant sounds amazing – well done to him! I'd certainly eat there!

    Reply
  11. The Curious Cat

    July 30, 2009 at 10:55 am

    PPS On festival food – I think it has definitely got a lot better from the times when I was 16 going to Reading Fest, there you just got horribly congealed chinese food and burgers – not a vegy option in sight except for jacket potato that looked awful…Bestival had some good curries and fish dishes last year – but yeah always room for improvement!

    Reply
  12. Scarlett the Heavenly Healer

    July 30, 2009 at 12:48 pm

    FAB post – as always! X

    Reply
  13. Animal Disco

    July 30, 2009 at 5:44 pm

    Ms ML – long time no catch up; thanks for re-enthusing me about all that is good and fun in the world with this wonderful post.

    Fancy a mini-break in Bath next time around? I think you'd particularly enjoy the Farmers' Market, and we could compare and contrast the delights (or otherwise) of Jamie's Italian and our own River Cottage Canteen. Heck, you could even accompany me to a restaurant review if we get the schedule right!

    Anyway, be in touch soon – for now, keep on keeping on; you're doing great things.

    Reply
  14. TheFastestIndian

    July 30, 2009 at 7:20 pm

    That is the most apt description of Polly Harvey that I have ever read. And well done on triple pudding consumption.

    Reply
  15. Browners

    July 31, 2009 at 10:27 am

    The Wild Garlic sounds great. We're definitely going there next time we are in Somerset/Dorset.

    Reply
  16. The Ginger Gourmand

    July 31, 2009 at 11:00 pm

    Aha – you got to try the savoury bread pudding! I must make my way down to mat's place sometime soon…I love our little exchanges on veggie-fare.

    Reply
  17. Lizzie

    August 1, 2009 at 4:54 pm

    Great post!

    I was once queuing for the portaloos at a festival (aimed at adults, mind) and a man dumped his 6 year old daughter on me while he went to the bar as she needed the toilet. I was a.) not in a correct condition to look after children and b.) she gave me headlice. Parents, eh?

    Reply
  18. theundergroundrestaurant

    August 1, 2009 at 4:59 pm

    Curious cat: yes the silent disco was very 21st century
    MsDisco: I would love to visit you,accompany you on a review. When is good for you?
    Lizzie hollowlegs:Kids =lice and worms. You get used to them eventually.

    Reply

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MsMarmiteLover aka Kerstin Rodgers.

Chef, photographer, author, journalist, blogger. Pioneer of the supperclub movement.

This is my food and travel blog, with recipes, reviews and travel stories. I also stray into politics, feminism, gardening.

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msmarmitelover

Kerstin Rodgers/MsMarmiteLover
Apple rose blossom tarts with rose jam. Rose Appl Apple rose blossom tarts with rose jam.  Rose Apple Blossom Tarts

Serves 8

Equipment: 
Microwave
Cupcake or muffin tin

I use a red-skinned apple to make these, to get a hint of blush at the edges of the ‘petals’.

Ingredients:
4 Pink Lady or Royal Gala apples, cored, cut into quarters, sliced thinly into half moons
1 lemon, squeezed
1 pack all butter readymade puff pastry 320g, on a roll, cut into 8 strips about 6 cms long
100g of melted butter
1/2 jar of rose jam
1 or 2 tbsp cinnamon or cardamom, ground 
Pinch maldon salt
2 or 3 tbsp icing sugar

Instructions

Prepare a bowl of acidulated water (cold water with lemon juice) to prevent browning.
Core the apples, and cut them in quarters. Slice thinly into half-moons (a mandolin is useful for this). 
Put them into a large bowl of cold water with the lemon.
Microwave the bowl of sliced apples for 5 minutes until soft enough to bend slightly but not cook them.
Preheat the oven to 180ºC.
Roll out the puff pastry. Divide into 8 sections by cutting the roll into quarters then halving each quarter. You will end up with 8 approximately 6cm strips.
Brush the strip with melted butter then paint with a layer of rose jam. You can then dust with either ground cinnamon or cardamom.
Lay the apple slices along the top of the pastry strip, overlapping them. Fold up the bottom half of the pastry strip to make an pleat with the skin side of the apple half moon poking over the top.
Roll up the folded pastry strips until they look like a rose made of apple at the top
Place ‘rose’ side up, in a buttered cupcake tin
Repeat until all are done and bake for 20 -30 minutes.
Using a tea strainer or small sieve, sprinkle with icing sugar.
A lovely vegetarian recipe from @lulugargari - a g A lovely vegetarian recipe from @lulugargari - a green bean and basil pesto with Italian lemon 🍋 pasta. Fresh, light. This was at an Italian cooking class/demo @eatalylondon hosted by @ilovefruitandvegfromeuropecouk @flickflock #london#italy🇮🇹
Digital chefs came from Italy yesterday to teach h Digital chefs came from Italy yesterday to teach how to make pumpkin, chilli, taleggio fondue Paccheri pasta- warming and filling for autumn days. Thanks to @ilovefruitandvegfromeuropecouk @flickflock @eatalylondon @danielerossichef @lulugargari for the event. We then got to go shopping in Italy with a £50 voucher. I spent it on mostardi di frutta, burratta, carciofi, cheeses,. My sis in law @bro0907 spent it on two bottles of wine. 😂 #italianfood #italianingredients #cookingclass #campaniafood
Inspired by @kathybrownstev’s book on edible flo Inspired by @kathybrownstev’s book on edible flowers I did an edible flower supper club featured in my first book ‘supper club’ This weekend I briefly visited her garden. Decades of work and creativity went into creating this English oasis. It’s an hour and a half out of london near Bedford. It closes at the end of September: open Tuesdays and this coming weekend. It was odd to go on holiday so near to where I live! We had a beautiful Airbnb in Pavenham. The countryside starts nearer to home than I thought. #uk #england #gardens
Visited The speciality fine food fair today for th Visited The speciality fine food fair today for the first time. So many tastings! Great to see new products. Particularly impressed by @lamiriharissa which is smoked and delicious run by Jo Lamiri’s children and @quirkymonkeycoffee which is mushroom infused coffee and hot chocolate run by an autistic guy Darwin setting up his own business. Good for him. #foodexplorer
Bones and all. Just made tomato sauce pasta from m Bones and all. Just made tomato sauce pasta from my home made sun dried tomato concentrate made @tenutacammarana in Sicily last summer. It’s the taste of sunshine. Plus my English home-grown tomatoes. #Tomatoes 🍅 🍅 🍅 #dinner #babyledweaning
I’ve made a South African/ Botswana dish that is I’ve made a South African/ Botswana dish that is creamy samp with chakalaka. Samp is corn like hominy or pozole a native Indian or Mexican food. It’s strange that it’s a staple food in Africa. Corn is a new world good I think. Samp itself is quite bland, often eaten with beans. Chakalaka is delicious with peppers, Piri piri seasoning, ginger garlic onions tomatoes and carrots and baked beans.
Samp from Botswana. It’s husked corn and makes a Samp from Botswana. It’s husked corn and makes a porridge like carb- creamy samp. I’m rinsing, soaking and cooking today and will combine it with chakalaka tomorrow. #southafrica #botswana #samp #newworldoldworld
Did my living room floor with @woca_denmark_uk_ire Did my living room floor with @woca_denmark_uk_ireland natural floor soap yesterday which smells lovely. But high traffic areas need rewarding. This is a Scandinavian technique- regularly waxing pale wood floors. I did this floor during the first year of lockdown. I prefer waxed floors to varnished. #interiors #woodfloors
Handbag condiments: @tajinuk , salt @maldonsalt do Handbag condiments: @tajinuk , salt @maldonsalt do a great little handbag tin, soy sauce bottles, and of course a handbag @marmite . I’ve also been known to carry a handbag @wd40uk and a handbag @cremedecassis to make poor white wine drinkable. What do you carry in your bag? Are you like Beyoncé and carry hot sauce in your bag?
Alliums in a purple pot. Note to self: plant more Alliums in a purple pot. Note to self: plant more bobble headed alliums. Love the colour and shape. This is in a neighbours garden who I met on Saturday while working in the front garden. Traditionally the British have front gardens but now they are turned into driveways and building are developed into flats. Only very rich people in london can afford houses. But the front is very important for the community- it’s how you meet your neighbours. On Saturday I visited 2 different sets of neighbours gardens- the first time since I moved to this street 23 years ago. Our front garden is communal and has been an unloved space- I’m trying to change that. Tonight I cleaned all the wheely bins. A yucky job but otherwise they smell so bad in summer. I was thinking about all the terrible dirty jobs that someone has to do- clearing up after a road accident, or sorting out sewers, or unblocking toilets. The stuff that nobody likes to think about. #frontgardens #neighbours #londoners
What I’ve been up to: awning from @victorianawni What I’ve been up to: awning from @victorianawnings which has transformed our al fresco eating possibilities. Also been working on the front garden of our building using talented work men I found on fb marketplace: railings by @lincsecproducts ( the gates were bought by me some years ago and I’ve scraped off the rust and repainted), the arch, which took me 3 years to find on fb marketplace for the right price and size. The wisteria which will grow over the arch planted by @christina_erskine ( I’ve always wanted a wisteria and they apparently add to the value of your house), the Swiss style bike/buggy shed. Needs to be painted dark green to match the walls. My friend Jim repaired the walls, the coping, and laid the  concrete plinth. Now need to find coping for the pillars or perhaps urns for more plants. 47cm2. #interiors #exteriordesign #gates #railings #bikeshed #awning #design
Made a vegetarian paella with La bomba rice from @ Made a vegetarian paella with La bomba rice from @brindisaspanishfoods I used red and green peppers, saffron, sherry, Nyora peppers, smoked almonds and green olives #vegetarian #vegetariansummer #paella
Quick snap of my bedroom chimney wall with the @sa Quick snap of my bedroom chimney wall with the @sanderson1860 wallpaper - finally done. Never wallpapered before. By the way I’m totally open to interiors collaborations email me: marmitelover@mac.com #interiordesign #wallpaper #london
I was sent some incredible olive oil from Sicily b I was sent some incredible olive oil from Sicily by fattoriabaronemocciarolidestri Terrediequila wonderful quality. Intense new grassy flavours. #oliveoil #sicily
Cooking powders or flavour bombs: two of my favour Cooking powders or flavour bombs: two of my favourite are ‘chaat’ which you can buy in Indian shops- here I’ve sprinkled yoghurt with lime/achaar chaat and decorated with day lily petals. My other favourite culinary powder is @tajinuk which gives instant mexicanness to any dish. #tajin #chaat
Me and my beautiful granddaughter Ophelia. I look Me and my beautiful granddaughter Ophelia. I look a mess ( really need to dye hair but it’s sooo expensive) but I don’t care because my heart just bursts when I cuddle this little being who has been in my life for 8 months. Babies are a blessing. #granfluencer pic: @clairebelljar
Made arepas last week with masarepa, a precooked m Made arepas last week with masarepa, a precooked maize meal, topped with Wensleydale cheese which isn’t too dissimilar to a fresh Latin American cheese. I also added fresh corn kernels for texture. #colombia #venezuela #arepas #vegetarian
Quinoa salad cooked in a mushroom stock cube solut Quinoa salad cooked in a mushroom stock cube solution with hazelnuts & preserved lemons, home grown curly parsley. I’m not cooking most of my grains in a rice steamer. Turn out fluffy & perfect every time. #quinoa #grainbowl #summerfood
I took this photo of Jane Birkin when she performe I took this photo of Jane Birkin when she performed at @theroundhouse in 2008. Shabby chic with a sweet voice. #RIP #janebirkin #concert #london #rockphotographer
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