Proper strudels are made from very thin pastry rolled out so thin it will stretch over a table like a vast floury cloth. It should be so fine that you could read a newspaper through it. I’ve seen it made from scratch in Vienna at the Demel Coffee House. This elastic pastry is related to…
Travel
Recipe for veggie goulash
Goulash is a cowboy stew for plainsmen in Hungary. Traditionally it is made with meat but I have created a vegan/vegetarian version. I used sweet paprika bought in Budapest and I must say, it’s very red, very fresh and tasty. Parsley roots are a traditional ingredient which I ordered through Natoora at Ocado, but parsnips…
Spas and strudels in Budapest
Budapest is really two cities either side of the River Danube; Buda and Pest. Buda is where most tourists stay, while Pest, with Castle Hill, is posher and more residential. I visited in the January low season when the weather is cold but the accommodation is cheap. I was accompanying my sister who was doing…
River cruise: Honfleur and recipe for salted caramels
In all my years of visiting and living in France, how is that I never knew about a gem- the port town of Honfleur? It’s got to be one of the prettiest villages in France. This picturesque Normandie town was the second stop of a Fred Olsen river cruise. Honfleur has echoing small streets with…
River cruise: Rouen
I went on a sea cruise with P and O last year, which, despite some initial resistance on my part, ended up being a very enjoyable experience. I may have been the youngest person on the ship by at least two decades, but I discovered my inner ‘nan’. It was so relaxing. It was structured….
Anchor-rage
“It’s not America, it’s Russia.” Guy who works at a bed and breakfast in Anchorage . I arrived at Anchorage airport, early morning, 2 am. I got in my hired car, a compact car, which cost £300 for five days, I drove blearily until I hit the grid, familiar to most American cities. Eventually I found…
British Weekends: Winchester and recipe for wasabi/cream cheese gyoza
I’m re-acquainting myself with British history via TV series such as The Last Kingdom and Vikings. Both series feature the ninth century King Alfred, whose capital was in Winchester, in the former county of ‘Wessex’. Winchester is dominated by an enormous bronze statue of Alfred the Great, so called because he was the first monarch…
British weekend trips: Durham and County Durham
Since the Brexit vote and the resulting downturn in the value of the pound, I’ve been spending more time in the UK. This year I took acid for the first time in Cornwall (oh yeah forgot to mention that in the post), drank whisky in Oban, floated about on the Norfolk Broads, ate vegan in Stockport, ate puddings in Aberdeenshire, and walked around Winchester…
An Indian supper club in Bombay
I started my underground restaurant almost ten years ago. I couldn’t afford to set up a restaurant of my own (average cost to set up a restaurant in London is around a million quid), so I decided to use my own home. Ruminating on the idea since visiting Cuba in 2000, things really took off…
Back to India
In my favourite book about travelling in India, William Sutcliffe’s ‘Are you experienced?’, the anti-hero Dave talks about how nobody visits the centre of India, described as “full of poor people growing food”. The state of Madhya Pradesh is bang in the centre of India, mostly unknown, and indeed virtually untrammelled by foreign tourists. My…