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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

This vegetarian met the worlds most famous butcher

This vegetarian met the worlds most famous butcher @dariocecchinimacellaio whose shop is located in Panzano, Tuscany. He trained my favourite food writer @bill.buford in butchery. I told him I didn’t eat meat & he twinkled ‘to beef or not to beef’. He has a Clark gable elegance: moustache, slicked back hair, charm, & a designer shirt depicting cows from @cotondoux paris. I instinctively wore a red & white striped dress which matched the colours of his shop, the red & white of the surgeon. They serve you glasses of Dario’s own Chianti Classico complete with straw bottomed ‘fiasco’. Now where else do you get that? When I return I will try the vegetarian menu at his restaurant opposite. #butcher #panzano #tuscany #chiantishire #chianticlassico #foodsiena #foodreportage

On a very steep street in siena, Tuscany. They’v

On a very steep street in siena, Tuscany. They’ve had to be creative with the table legs. We went to the Palio horse race in the shell-shaped piazza where the passion & downright enmity of the different contrada or districts, each represented by an animal or mascot, was on display. The riders go bareback. It’s the horse that wins not the jockey. A riderless horse can win. There are many false starts, a massive explosion going boom in the square each time which led kids to cry. We waited for hours in the cheap seats- the burnt ochre brickwork of the centre. While tourists at windows paid 600 euros for the privilege. I loved the singing, like football chants but operatic- lots of finger pointing at each other. After I went to a contrada dinner on the streets of Siena, a rare opportunity. For 35 euros you attend the largest ‘supper club’ ever- 800 people, 4 courses, generous helpings of chianti. The servers are local teenagers. I wore my ‘Oca’ or goose scarf around my shoulders, looking like a girl guide. A bucket list item ticked off. I only wish my daughter @siennamarla was with me. #travel #food #italy #chiantishire #siena #palio #supperclub #oca #contrada

Looking at vegetables in Italy. Photo by @loredana

Looking at vegetables in Italy. Photo by @loredanaparisi72

My piece in the @hamandhigh about the 3 day @heat

My piece in the @hamandhigh about the 3 day @heathostile training course. Incredibly interesting & challenging. Link: https://www.hamhigh.co.uk/things-to-do/hostile-environment-training-9037980 to read more #hostileenvironmenttraining

Supper club dishes from Saturday: pickled beetroot

Supper club dishes from Saturday: pickled beetroot eggs, cheeseboard, stracciatella & cucumber, tomato/strawberry/peashoot salad with real balsamic & spruce oil, home cured dill gravlax, smoked salmon, homemade sourdough crisp bread, potato salad with wild fennel & lots more! #supperclub #midsummer #eattherainbow (miss you @linnsoederstroem)

Last nights supper club. My first supper club in 2

Last nights supper club. My first supper club in 2 years was great fun. I’m pleased with my food, the guests were lovely, it looked magical in the garden. But the weather! I even had to bring my duvets from the bedroom out. They looked like refugees. But this brought even more laughter! Next event September

My first supperclub in two years will take place t

My first supperclub in two years will take place this Saturday 18th June starting at 7.30pm. Tickets are £50 byo you can book here: https://msmarmitelover.com/product/midsommar-supper-club there are still a few places left. Pescetarian menu. Scandi and botanical influences. #gettingbackonmyfeet #postpandemic #smallbusinesses #supperclub #london

I recently completed the 3 day @heathostile train

I recently completed the 3 day @heathostile training course. On the last day I was kidnapped by ex-special forces for a few hours & learnt how to deal with compliance training & a hostile environment. It was one of the most interesting experiences of my life. 3 intense days of combat first aid, navigation & how to survive in a war zone. I handled short, long guns, mortars, grenades, bullets, and tourniquet & bandaged an amputee. I learnt where to sit in a car, where to hide from a bullet, where to protect myself if in a car. It was brilliant. Highly recommended for any journalists, photographers, cameramen, charity workers, paramedics going into any difficult environment say a disaster or war. The stories from the tutors & the other participants were so interesting. My piece on it out soon. Book a course: https://hostile-environment.co.uk/ They also do jungle & desert training. I’d love to join the Antarctic expedition. Anyway that’s me hooded in the front. #adventures #het #hostileenvironmenttraining #experiences #travel

Bundoran beach, Donegal. I spent a week knocking o

Bundoran beach, Donegal. I spent a week knocking on doors, going to libraries, searching through graveyards for my Irish forebears. It’s really hard to find information prior to 1850. I found this in last years trip to Arbroath in Scotland. Headstones wear out, records are lost or burnt in a fire, everybody has the same name and are known by nicknames, successive children have the same first name, that usually means they died and the next one is called by the same thing. Women did have children out of wedlock, and people remarried more often than you’d think, plus families fall out & never see each other again. I learnt that my Irish great grandfather michael went to Glasgow & met a woman who came from a similar place: somewhere wild & beautiful by the sea. Then they and their children came to london. Chasing the work & the money always. Politics and economics matter for they push people around from rural to city. And now we rodgers are Londoners. #ireland #scotland #family #travel #roots

How some of us celebrate the Queen’s jubilee! My

How some of us celebrate the Queen’s jubilee! My sister & a random Irishman come for the Rory Gallagher festival in ballyshannon. Sis has pulled already! #getyourcoat #sexpistols #ballyshannon #rorygallagherfestival #ireland

Tullaghan, county Leitrim, Donegal, where my grea

Tullaghan, county Leitrim, Donegal, where my great great grandfather john Rodgers was a postman, then a tailor, then a pawnbroker. #irishheritage #donegal #myancestry #irish #rodgers #travel

I’ve taken down the previous post as it’s poor

I’ve taken down the previous post as it’s poor timing considering what’s happened over the last 24 hours. Being British I’ve not grown up around guns. It’s interesting to be on this course and find out more about the reality of them, although my focus is learning the ‘golden triangle’ of first aid, communications and navigation. But at the same time It’s depressing how in America nothing will ever change regarding gun law. RIP.

Me as a punk. #pinkhair @caplanmelissa

Me as a punk. #pinkhair @caplanmelissa

Sniffin’ glue: Me n @Jaybladesmbe at the Loctite

Sniffin’ glue: Me n @Jaybladesmbe at the Loctite pop up yesterday. I’m all about repairing and upcycling my brocante finds: this time a beautiful pale wood lamp shade stand which had broken off at the bottom. I’m going to rewire it with 2 core sky blue twisted fabric wire, pop on my hand sewn pleated lampshade I learnt to do @workshopminerva and it shall be beautiful. Don’t chuck out your chintz: repair it! #therepairshop #selfie #interiors #popup

in June I’m having my first supper club in two y

in June I’m having my first supper club in two years: here is the link to book: https://msmarmitelover.com/product/midsommar-supper-club £50 18th June Saturday night. Byo.
#chelseaflower coming up. Last year I bought these succulents and planted them in a vintage zinc garden sieve. Now they are flowering. My balcony is like a little greenhouse: I can grow aubergines & other plants that usually need to be under glass. #londongarden #may #plants #succulents in the garden

Weekend in Suffolk chez @clairebelljar where I had

Weekend in Suffolk chez @clairebelljar where I had the privilege of being taught some basic pottery & seeing her gorgeous house, workshop & honesty shop. We ate local produce: asparagus, @fenfarmdairy produce and talked about our lives and loves, the good and the bloody awful. #oldgirlfriends #suffolk #ceramics

Lemon drizzle cake. The trick is not to stint on t

Lemon drizzle cake. The trick is not to stint on the citrus. I used 7: 2 Italian lemons (from Lidl):some ordinary lemons and some limes (18p) at Lidl. Don’t be afraid to mix and match your citrus. I also used buttermilk from @fenfarmdairy in Suffolk from their honesty shop. Last night we ate it still warm from the oven. #cake #lemondrizzle #homebaking #citrus #buttermilk

A Simple tomato, goats cheese and basil salad, spa

A Simple tomato, goats cheese and basil salad, spanking fresh asparagus / fried in olive oil, season, then add a little boiling water, not too much, put on the lid, dressed with lemon zest & Parmesan, @fenfarmdairy baron bigod cheese, good bread. This is how I like to eat. Claire’s plates found at the beccles brocante. #suffolk #suffolkfood #supper #dinnerwithfriends #vintageplates

Can’t wait to see what they will be like when th

Can’t wait to see what they will be like when they are fired. All my favourite themes: gingham and scallops. Thanks to @clairebelljar for a wonderful weekend and pottery workshop. Such fun! #workingwithyourhands #playtime #creativity #ceramics #pottery #suffolk

Making plates with talented potter & old South Ham

Making plates with talented potter & old South Hampstead girl @clairebelljar in Suffolk. She has the most beautiful house I’ve ever seen. Such a joy to be reunited with her. #friendsreunited #makers #potters #scalloped #wildflowers #cowparsley #pottery

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