Who knew such a simple word could create such dislike? A tweet on Friday said those who claimed ownership belonged up there groups such as furries. Who I don’t think are known for their love of food.

And I know it is a divisive word. But what are the alternatives? When I was looking for a name for the blog, then I guess I could have used gourmet I guess, but doesn’t it sound rather elitist? The dictionary defines it as a connoisseur of fine food and drink. But to me, that means someone who is busy enjoying Michelin star delights seven nights a week, or cooking up Heston style dinners.

An epicure perhaps? One who cultivates refined tastes. A gourmand? One who is fond of good eating, but apparently often indiscriminately and to excess.

Well, none of those kind of sum up my approach to food. I really love my food, I like to eat, I quite like to cook, and very fond of baking. I’ve done occasional dining at Michelin star places, but enjoy a good diner too. I enjoy knowing where my food came from, and I love the stories and products of great producers.

Does it mean I’m a food snob, or not a food snob? I am a food snob, in that I love good food, and people who produce good food. I loathe bad food, bad service, places that just don’t care about the food they serve or where it comes from. So, I wish there was a word that everyone liked, but I can’t find one. I use foodie as a shorthand for just caring about, and being really, really interested in food, high end and low end.

So until there’s a better word that covers all of that I’m afraid there’s no renaming of the blog any time soon! Like they say, you can’t please all of the people all of the time, and each to their own!

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Official “Bewitched” Cookbook  – I’d love this one on so many levels. Was a huge fan of the show as a kid, and it surely taps into the whole early 60s vibe as well. Pre dinner martinis anyone? It also apparently contains the special recipes that saved Darrin’s career, and who knows when those might come in useful!

Zuzu Bailey’s “It’s a Wonderful Life” Cookbook – it’s not Christmas until the angel gets his wings, and maybe they get wings when we cook from this. These are good old-fashioned American recipes inspired by the fictional town of Bedford Falls. I can see myself making Potter Pot Pie and Silver Bells Christmas Cookies and settling down with the family to watch the film.

Pulp Kitchen – Recipes for the Good, Bad and Ugly – this is great for food loving film buff, with recipes inspired by all kinds of films and genres. From The Godfather to Bridget Jones Diary (blue string at the ready), Casino Royale to the Sound of Music, there are all kinds of recipes to add another dimension to your film viewing.

The Star Wars Cookbook: Wookiee Cookies and Other Galactic Recipes – I’m very tempted to buy this for Dr T, and imagine it will be a source of pride to any other Star Wars geeks and fan boys. In fact, it’s almost worth it for the photography alone, but then what other cookbook do you have that has Princess Leia Danish Dos and Mos Eisley Morsels? I would say this was actually aimed at littler cooks, but sure there are some very big kids who would really appreciate this!

Love at First Bite: the Unofficial Twilight Cookbook – I seem to remember that vampires don’t eat proper food, but couldn’t see that there wouldn’t be a cookbook to go with this hugely successful franchise. So there are Bites at Dawn, also known as breakfast, and even Howl at Twilight cocktail recipes. I would say it was again one for a real fan, though probably fan girls in this case!

Like I said, these are all a bit of fun, but sure there will be recipes in here that you’d have great fun making, and it may be a great way to introduce a reluctant cook into the kitchen. Just wiggle your nose and see what happens!

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Okay, I’m not sure how it happened, but we seem to have lost 20° in the outside temperature, and this morning I was out there with the ice scraper. So, Delia’s Summer Collection is going away for 6 months, and swapped for the winter version, which is my standby for this time of year.

But if you were looking for some more winter inspiration, then how about some of these?

Winter Harvest Cookbook: How to Select and Prepare Fresh Seasonal Produce All Winter Long – this is an update of an earlier version, but given that it was written in Canada, I think they now what winter is like! I like that this one not only does great cooking, but also covers things like urban composting. There are nice features on different ingredients, and some great sounding recipes. Apple pastila is just up my street, and there’s plenty to go at here.

The Ski House Cookbook – if anywhere needs to know about great warming winter food, it has to be a ski chalet. All that activity, all that cold weather, just crying out for great carb overload! These are quite quick recipes, designed to maximise time on the slopes, but deliver great food quickly. Perfect for friends and family, and for bigger groups.

Snowflakes and Schnapps – this is a beautiful looking book, very Ice Queen throws a banquet in Narnia. I have no idea where I’d start with this book. I mean, bacon rosti with poached eggs and thyme hollandaise anyone? Washed down with almond hot chocolate? What’s not to love?

Autumn Gatherings: Casual Food to Eat With Family and Friends – this title is almost written for me. I seem to get people together a lot more in the autumn, and our gatherings are definitely casual, normally all gathered around the kitchen table. It’s got a huge turkey on the front, ready for Thanksgiving, but not sure what else. I’m going to buy this on the title alone, so will report back.

A Paradiso Year: Autumn and Winter – Dennis Cotter writes great vegetarian cookbooks, andI think autumn and winter lends itself to great veggie cooking, with all those great root veg. Proving that winter cooking doesn’t have to be unhealthy, this really lends itself to great cooking with great produce.

When it gets cold like this, is there anything better than spending time in the kitchen, oven on, and turning out great warming dishes? It’s what makes the season for me, love it! What do you love about this time of year?

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Not food, but a good food orientated gift, from Beekman 1802 (also known as the Fabulous Beekman Boys). There is a Martha Stewart connection here, which I forget, but it’s all very slick looking.

Very pretty, not entirely necessary, but a great stocking filler. Looking for a UK source of these. Anyone got any ideas?

Unsurprisingly, this is milk chocolate. Real milk chocolate. Nothing new here. Revolutionary in the US. More to follow on this one.

Too cute for words! Although I’d have liked the tin to have had the same expression as the display!

This book caught my eye, and I’m adding it to my wish list, as think it looks like a fascinating story of a community coming together around food.

What have you got your eye on at the moment?

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Fat Witch Brownies: Brownies, Blondies and Bars from New York’s Legendary Fat Witch Bakery – this came from my team at work, which I would think is 100% down to Twiglet having a good memory. Perhaps me bribing her with a slice of brownie from the bakery when we were in New York recently helped to embed it in her memory. Either way, I’m going to be baking from this soon, very soon!

A Middle Eastern Feast by Claudia Roden – I wrote about these editions from Penguin recently, given that they have very beautiful covers, are a very reasonable price and there are some amazing titles to choose from. This one is going on holiday with me.

Food Britannia by Andrew Webb – I bet our post lady enjoyed delivering this one, pretty weighty! Love books like this, stories about great food, and great producers around the UK. Bad to read at bedtime though, makes one very hungry!

The Skinny French Kitchen by Harry Eastwood – this was from BFF and her fella. Not because I think she thinks I need to lose a few pounds (but she probably wouldn’t be wrong), but because she know’s how much I loved Harry’s last book, and just how much I would love to be in France right now. Or any time really!

Exciting Food for Southern Types – always one that you weren’t expecting! But Southern Italy definitely has some great food on offer today, be interesting to see what it was like in 1891!

So, I have some interesting reading and some fabulous new cooking options to work through in the weeks ahead! Got to love having people around who take good notice of subtle hints on the gift giving front!

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Bring on the cake!

Lets face it, I’m pretty good at birthdays now. I’ve had more than a few, and I guess friends and family have got the hang by now of my interests and likes! In fact, writing the blog has definitely helped them out, with some of my posts being less than subtle hints! So, as it’s nearly that time of year again, thought I would review those books I’ve received at different times, from different people, and across many different types of food.

Delia’s Summer Collection – my mum and dad bought me this one, and it’s even signed by Delia. Think Mum went to what was then Georges on Park Street in Bristol to meet her. I still cook from this each summer, the pan fried halloumi cheese being a standby, and the coconut ice cream still one of my faves. I don’t look at the publication date, it makes me feel old. But this book is timeless. And the photography is still beautiful and evocative of the best summers even now.

Cupcakes from the Primrose Bakery – this one came from BFF and her fella, I can’t imagine why! We’ve had some fabulous afternoon teas together, and I’ve baked one or two cakes for them over the years. These are good cupcakes, not over fancy ones in my book, ones where taste of cake is as important as the icing. This is a keeper. Hello Cupcake up for grabs. Never baking from this.

The Book of Tapas by Simone and Ines Ortega – just to show what happens when you have more than one wishlist on Amazon. I use one for storing books for future Friday Fives, and one for stuff I’d really like. And sometimes, some members of the family have got the two mixed up. Sometimes it would work ok. And sometimes, there are times when it doesn’t.

How to be a Domestic Goddess: Baking and the Art of Comfort Caking – of course, there’s a cake theme, baking, comfort food. My friends know me well. This book is very well-thumbed, and is covered in different cake batters. I don’t think there’s a better recommendation for a cookbook than finding the messiest one on anyone’s shelf!

Salt: A World History by Mark Kurlansky – this was a follow up to me reading Cod the year before. Great reading, some brilliant recipes, and more stuff than you ever thought you wanted to know about salt. And then some.

So, who knows what the birthday fairy might turn up with this year if I’ve been good? Will keep you posted!

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Possibly my favourite place in the world to write from

I’ve written quite a few times about how much I love my summer trips to France, about great meals we’ve enjoyed, places I would recommend, and be back at in a heartbeat.

And I’d like to write that I am really not at all depressed at the fact that I won’t be taking up residence for several weeks this year, and that I am sure a fortnight in Northumberland will be just as glorious. But I do hate to tell fibs…and the closer it gets to the time to go, the more I wish I was heading over the water!

If I was, and even given that my French is not bad, then I would definitely be taking the Gastronomic Dictionary from Thomas Harmsworth with me. This is the book I have been looking for every year we have been going, for those parts of the menu that just leave me scratching my head, and most dictionaries don’t go anywhere near. I mean, I’ve always wanted to order ptarmigan, but never known the word. There it is: lagopède des Alpes.

Mainly it’s fish that I come a cropper on, and there does seem to be a good variety covered in this dictionary. I also like that it’s a very slim book, so ideal to slip into the handbag, or hide in the menu! And at £3.50, it won’t break the bank.

Unlike eating in France, given the state of the pound versus the Euro. But if you are going, then enjoy and make the most of the great food on offer, by knowing exactly what you’re ordering, or what they’re offering!

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Which means there is usually a need to bake, and this week was no exception. Baking is normally the prelude to catching up with BFF, this week being no exception. Although went from a twosome to quite a gathering perhaps just because there was cake, who knows. I didn’t mean to make something different only by the mother of necessity and the absence of lemons in the house meant that I know have an orange version of the Lemon and Poppyseed Yoghurt Cake. Very simple, comes in the original lemon format from Tamasin Day-Lewis’ Kitchen Bible.

Just in case life hasn’t given you lemons, here’s my version:

Orange and Poppyseed Yoghurt Cake

45g poppyseeds

150ml yoghurt (I used Greek yoghurt, low fat, it’s all that was here)

200g unsalted butter, softened

zest and juice of 1 orange

140g caster sugar (the original recipe used vanilla sugar, I’d add a few drops of vanilla extract if you’ve none to hand)

3 eggs

255g plain flour

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

Set your oven to 170°C/325°F/Gas Mark 3. Mix the poppyseeds into the yoghurt and ensure they are evenly blended. Cream the butter, orange zest and sugar together by hand if you like the hard work, or get your favourite electric helper to lend a hand. Beat until light and fluffy, making sure that you scrape the mixture down from the sides of the bowl as you go.

Add each each egg one at a time, beating it in between each addition. Sift together the flour and baking powder, and add to the creamed mixture. Add the orange juice and the yoghurt and poppyseed mixture using a metal spoon, folding through thoroughly.

Grease and line a 2lb loaf tin (or do what I do and buy silicone and do away with all that). Scrape in all the mixture and bake in the middle of the oven for 55 to 60 minutes, until a skewer comes out clean. Cool in the tin for 10 minutes or so, then turn out onto a wire rack to cool.

In the original book, it says this works well with ice cream, or with crème fraîche, but it never really hangs around longer than coffee time here for us to find out.

After the events of the last few weeks, I am as always greatly appreciative of the value of friendship. And great friendship always deserves good cake in my book. And for sure, this is a cake my Dad would have loved too, having always had a sweet tooth. It’s the weekend, go ahead and value your friends with a slice of the good stuff!

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I’m very lucky, not to mention very excited, to be heading off to New York for a few nights on Sunday. It’ll be a full on 4 days, as its a working trip, but I am managing to squeeze in as much food content as I can between the demands of the day shop. Lets face it, we’ve got to eat, and that’s at least 3 opportunities in each day! More with coffee stops. Just to get in the mood, here’s 5 choices on, by and about the food scene in all its wonderful diversity and history.

*Momofuku – actually, this is a bit of a cheat as it’s Milk Bar that is on my itinerary, but that book isn’t out till October, so this would have to suffice for now. The food is described as urban, fusion and exciting, words that could sum up many parts of a trip to New York. David Chang is still being celebrated for his exciting food, and this feels like some of that famous New York melting pot approach in one book.

* The Grand Central Oyster Bar and Restaurant Complete Seafood Cookbook – I don’t like oysters, but I adore this place, if only for it making like you are always on the verge of being in a film. It’s such a familiar place, even on your first visit to Grand Central it will feel like you’ve always been coming here. I would suggest that this is a book for someone who loves their seafood and who has some special memories of this place.

* The 2nd Avenue Deli Cookbook – got to be a great deli somewhere on your trip to New York. I’m not a huge fan of Katz’s but do love Carnegie, especially their corned beef hash. 2nd Avenue is the real deal for treats like matzoh ball soup and potato kugel. Comfort food from another culture to the one I was brought up in, but comforting never the less. Not to mention some pretty darn good cakes as well.

* Gastropolis: Food and New York City – this is my kind of book to have for a trip like this, reading about a place when in the place, just adds an extra dimension. This charts the food and the people that were there throughout the history of New York City, back to the early days. With so many people going through New York, and bringing with them their food traditions and cultures, is it any wonder that such a vibrant food scene emerged?

* Babycakes: Vegan, (Mostly) Gluten-Free and (Mostly) Sugar-Free Recipes – I thought about putting in something in from Magnolia Bakery, but actually I’ve never stopped in there. My trips to New York are less Sex and the City and much more in keeping with this great Lower East Side Bakery. Felt a bit out of place at first in best of Boden, but kind of place that anything goes, and the cakes are pretty darn tasty, meaning you don’t feel like you’re missing out on the things that aren’t in there, and just enjoying the taste. Tiny place, worth a detour.

So I’m hoping to get in a couple of old favourites, explore some new places, get some new taste experiences, and generally cram everything in that we can. Put it this way, by 9.30am on Monday we plan to have walked the High Line and be recovering over breakfast at Kitchenette Downtown!

NY shot by insanegirl on Flickr.

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I was in Waterstones the other day and my eye was caught by a display of really attractive paperbacks. Imagine my joy to not only find they were beautiful but they are also some of the most amazing cookbooks ever written. Now, I’d like the Birthday Fairy to just bring me the whole set, if not two. I’d have one set to read, and one to put on the wall to look at each day.

The good things are these are not going to smash the bank, with each one having a cover price of £6.99. Where to start though? Historical reading? How about a bestseller from 1615 with Gervase Markham’s The Well-Kept Kitchen?

By particular cuisine type? Well, there’s Exciting Food for Southern Types by Pellegrino Artusi for an early view of Italian food, or a more contemporary view with Claudia Roden on the huge variety of cuisines from the Middle East, with A Middle Eastern Feast.

Skip Stateside, and you could enjoy Love in a Dish and Other Pieces by M F K Fisher or Recipes and Lessons from a Delicious Cooking Revolution by Alice Waters. The possible themes are endless.

Sadly, I can’t find the artwork available as other forms, as this would definitely make for striking posters or prints for the kitchen, not to mention mugs and tea towels. But if anyone from Penguin is listening, think it would be a cracking idea and can imagine a whole raft of food lovers making house space for them!

Meantime, I’m off to write my birthday list…!

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