Category: Blog

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Blog

Hala Doha

This week I’ve arrived in the Middle East with my two sons, on my way to spending the winter months in Australia.

Doha, in Qatar, is a real mixture of the old and the new. My main photo shows the old – represented by a traditional wooden dhow boat used for pearl diving when the place was just a small coastal village – alongside the modern day skyscrapers of West Bay. The discovery of oil – and enough supplies of it for the next 200 years – has brought significant wealth and transformed the place out of all recognition.

My search to discover the local cuisine has led to a variety of cafes and restaurants specialising in food mainly from other parts of Asia. As the city has grown, it seems that people have travelled here to work, bringing their own tastes and styles of cooking with them. Consequently, many restaurants have sprouted up to use their skills and satisfy their appetites.

These next photos show a banquet we enjoyed in a Korean Restaurant. The appetiser comprises pickled root veg, kimchi (fermented cabbage and veg) and spiced cubes of tofu.

There are four dishes in the mains: pieces of chicken coated in spicy batter and deep fried; spiced tofu and beef in a doubenjiang (chilli bean) sauce, with a mound of steamed rice; bibimbap, which is fine sliced, marinaded (bulgogi) beef served with fried egg, veg and rice; and chicken and veg in sweet soy sauce.

The mix of tastes was amazing. I especially liked the variety of things they do with tofu – the complimentary starter was a bowl of soup with cubes of tofu in. In fact, the restaurant was actually called The Tofu House, in the Al Mansoura district where we are staying. This has given me lots of ideas for when I am next back in the ADK Kitchen, though that won’t be until well into 2023!

It was also very reasonably priced – 140 QAR for three, which works out about £10 per head. It is certainly possible to eat well and inexpensively in Qatar.

It’s an interesting time to be in Qatar, as the country is hosting the Football World Cup. There are people here from all over the world, making it easy to chat to friendly visitors from Canada, Japan, Egypt, Uganda, India and many, many more, as well as locals, particularly on the excellent, state of the art public transport system. It shows the power of international sport to bring people together and overcome any language or cultural barriers.

Choice of music for the ADK playlist is something from my listening on the way out here with Qatar Airways – Little Fluffy Clouds from The Orb reminds me of a comfortable and enjoyable 6 hour flight!

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Blog

Starlight

Remembrance Day falls this weekend, when we honour the memory of all those in the armed forces who have given their lives in the line of duty. As I pinned a poppy to my lapel this week, I was reminded of a rare gem of a tea and coffee house I visited a few weeks back. It is a special place for mindful thought and reflection on the loss of friends, family and loved ones. Let me introduce The Starlight Tea Chapel.

‘Stumbled upon’ is no exaggeration. In Essex for a few days, we had planned a walk in Colchester that was set to pause for tea at a National Trust mill. It was only on arrival we found that the mill was closed – cuing up a hasty search of Google Maps for a nearby alternative.

The Tea Chapel is inside the grounds of the cemetery and crematorium, although you will not find it signposted from the road. Built in 1855, it served for many years itself as a venue for funeral services, but was then decommissioned when the nearby crematorium opened. For a few years, it was effectively a store for garden tools, before being leased out as a tea room.

It now serves as a meeting place for a wake, celebration of life or post-funeral reception. In a touching gesture, the wall around the arched entrance door pays tribute to those whose lives have been celebrated here by loved ones, with pasted covers from orders of service (see photo above).

However, it is actually so much more. The history, the green and peaceful surroundings, and the beautiful architecture of the building combine to make this a special place for quiet and mindful reflection generally, over a tea, coffee, lunch or cake.

As we discovered, it is also open to the general public for this purpose – check on opening times before you go. I can recommend the cake!

So what is the corresponding track for adding to the ADK Spotify Playlist? Coincidentally, around the same time as our visit, I managed to obtain tickets to see Muse, a band I really like, on their UK tour next year. The track Starlight seems particularly suitable for this post, not only because of the title, but the lyrics generally and the promise to Never Fade Away.

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Blog

My Halloween Party

So the ADK Halloween Party was in full swing, all my dream (or should that be nightmare?) guests having arrived.

I asked Jamie Lee Curtis to be in charge of jack o’lantern carving. She told me she’d first done this over 40 years ago, while babysitting. Clearly she’d been quite successful at it, having been asked by her employers to take it up again every few years since. I was very pleased with the results – see my main photo. She can come again.

Edward Scissorhands was sat at the kitchen table, doing his best to turn the carrots and celery into crudites. Opposite him sat Freddy Krueger, his nimble fingers at work on the party dips. I don’t want to carp, but they were both quite messy workers, and the ingredients weren’t as carefully or evenly chopped as I would have liked. But hey – it saved me having to get out the food processor.

Jack Skellington is a lovely chap, if mildly irritating. Every job I tried to give him, he just kept asking What’s this? What’s this? Eventually I put him in charge of sorting out the music.

Everyone seemed to be having a lovely time. I received a nice note from Michael Myers, saying how much he had enjoyed it, and that he would like to come again. At least, I think that’s what he meant – his actual note was left on the kitchen table, with the words on it, scrawled in blood, I’ll be Back!

What’s more, he had pinned the note to the table using one of my best Sabatier carving knives, damaging the tip in the process. I wasn’t best pleased with this, as you can imagine. Why the lad can’t just use a post-it note like anyone else, I don’t know.

All this really did happen, I swear. At least I think it did. The last thing I remember, we were all sitting round the table having a slice of the special Halloween Cake I’d baked, using those strange new mushrooms I picked down in the woods. It all went a bit hazy after that.

Jack’s selection for musical accompaniment is You Make Me Feel Like It’s Halloween by Muse. I think Matt Bellamy’s falsetto chorus reminds him of This is Halloween from The Nightmare Before Christmas, although the track is still unmistakably Muse.

I’m sharing the video here as it is a lot of fun. The setting looks like a cross between Disney’s Haunted Mansion and The Shining’s Overlook Hotel. Not a place you would want to be alone. After dark. At Halloween.

Whatever you are doing this Halloween weekend, I hope you are having as spooktacular a time as me.

Happy Halloween, everyone!


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Blog

The Thrill of It All

This weekend just gone is one I had been looking forward to for some time. Tickets to see Roxy Music at the O2 Arena in London were a lovely surprise birthday present, and the day had finally arrived!

Roxy have directly influenced so many trends in music, from glam rock, punk and new wave to the new romantics and so much indie and electronic music since. It is difficult to convey how markedly different they were when they first arrived on the scene – an eclectic blend of suave crooning over buzzing guitar, blasting rock sax and experimental keyboards. Unique and original, they really were unlike anything we had seen before.

I have always been a fan of Roxy, and this show did not disappoint. The band performed lots of tracks that I have been listening to for years on vinyl and cd, and still nowadays on Spotify – Virginia Plain, Do the Strand, In Every Dreamhome a Heartache, Love is the Drug – to name a few.

Of course, with the passage of time, Ferry, Mackay, Manzanera and Thompson are all a little older and mellower. However, it still feels a privilege to be in the presence of the original band members when performing these era-defining songs.

My favourite track was Editions of You, played out at the O2 before an Andy Warhol-inspired backdrop, featuring garishly coloured lino prints of that famous Campbells Soup tin, and stars such as Marilyn Monroe and Jackie O. To these had been added vintage portraits of the band members from their heyday, in the same pop art style, acknowledging their own place in the pantheon of modern cultural icons.

I don’t know if we will see a tour like this again from Roxy, but if not, this is a fine way to remember the band and celebrate their wonderful legacy.

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Blog Sides

Green Tomato Chutney

This week on A Different Kitchen we welcome our latest guest post. Our contributor is my wife Lesley, a keen gardener and cyclist, who has been making the most of this summer’s tomato harvest from our garden!

Hi. I grow Gardener’s Delight tomatoes, a really tasty cherry tomato. At the end of the season I usually compost the green ones when tidying up the garden for winter, having had a magnificent crop of warm juicy tomatoes when picked fresh. 

This year I decided it was more in keeping with my desire to reduce food miles and increase self-sufficiency  to convert the green tomatoes into chutney.  I inherited some vintage Kilner jars from my parents who used to make jam from gluts of fruit. The skill and desire to preserve a home-grown harvest has been handed down to me, even though I thought it was boring at the time.  This recipe was super easy to make and, as the following photo shows, we now have this rich sticky chutney to pair with cheese, ham and bread for much of the winter to come.  

This made just under a litre of chutney.  Here’s a ‘How to’:

Slice the green tomatoes and an onion. Sprinkle with the best salt you have and leave. The salt will draw liquid out of the tomato onion mixture, then discard by straining it. Don’t rinse the salt away, its all part of the salt/sweet/sour balance of the chutney. 

I used 200g muscovado sugar and half a litre of cider vinegar to my 1kg tomatoes to make it rich and tasty but any sugar and vinegar will do. I have windfall apples from my tree so I added about 4 medium-sized ones peeled and cored with a handful or 2 of sultanas or any similar dried fruit. Add in whatever spices you like. 

All this gets boiled up till it is pulpy and sticky  (about 1 hr) and then carefully spoon into the sterile jars that have been warming in the oven. I don’t have lids for these so have put greaseproof paper squares over the jar with an elastic band and popped it in the fridge once cool. 

I always say to my children when eating anything we have grown in our garden, “this was made from Hampshire sunshine”. Eating it will remind me of a ridiculously record breaking sunny summer, sheltering inside from the heat, watching cycling teams on TV dousing copious amounts of water over their heads in le Tour de France on punishingly hot roads. Being a keen cyclist, I have chosen this excellent Kraftwerk tune to go with my chutney. 

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Bakes Blog Snacks

Selkirk Bannock

Until recently, I had never heard of the Selkirk Bannock. That’s all changed since a friend of the family brought us one back as a gift from a holiday in the Scottish Borders. Delicious it is, too!

According to legend, Queen Victoria visited Sir Walter Scott’s granddaughter at Abbotsford in 1867, and was served a Selkirk Bannock made by local baker Robbie Douglas. As a result the Bannock became famous and fashionable throughout Scotland, and is still made today to Robbie’s original recipe.

A rich but lightly textured fruit loaf packed with sultanas, my first impression was the malty, slightly sticky soft crust giving off a scent of scotch whisky. According to the ingredients list, however, there is no whisky included in the mix.

It is eaten simply – sliced and spread with butter. Toast it and let the butter melt (see my photo), and it is even more delicious.

It fully deserves its place in Scotland’s great culinary tradition.

Accordingly, for musical inspiration, I’ve chosen a modern day anthem from Scottish duo Craig and Charlie Reid, better known as the Proclaimers. I was amused to read recently that an interviewer once asked Craig and Charlie how they first met (eh, they are identical twins).

I know how challenging it can be to meet my daily target of 10,000 steps. Maybe, however, with a good few slices of Selkirk Bannock with butter in me for sustenance, I too could manage 500 miles?



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Blog Breakfast

The Sweetest Feeling

During the recent period of national mourning, I spent a few days in Essex visiting relatives. I made a point of stopping off at Tiptree, home of the famous jams and marmalades produced by Wilkin and Sons since 1885. I learned that their range of preserves has been supplied to the Crown under Royal Warrant since 1911, and is enjoyed in over 70 countries all around the world. I wonder if you have heard of it where you live?

On the same site as the factory where the jam is made, you can tour a museum display explaining how the company has grown over the years from its Victorian origins. There is also a shop selling the full range of preserves, including some varieties I was unaware of, such as Little Scarlet (a type of strawberry).

On display is a selection of spicy sauces and chutneys to choose from. We brought some chilli jam as a gift for our son. It’s a great place to treat yourself, and friends and family. Hey, we deserve it!

I opted for a jar of Old Times English Orange Marmalade to take home, which (as you can see) I shall be enjoying over many breakfasts ahead. It has a very delicate balance between bitter and sweet.

However, my highlight, and undoubtedly a favourite part of the visit for many devotees, is (not totally surprisingly) the Tea Room. Here you can place your order and, while waiting at a table for your own delights to arrive, be entertained by the succession of delicious cakes and carefully trimmed sandwiches making their way to the tables around you, beautifully presented on old-fashioned 3 tier china cake stands.

I opted for afternoon tea, with a toasted teacake and a choice of preserve, washed down with a pot of tea. My chosen preserve was a miniature jar of dark morello cherry jam, which was delicious. You can see it in my main photo, along with the fittingly sweet message on the underside of the lid, which says simply:

From Tiptree With Love

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Blog

Tea at the Palace

In 2014 I received an invitation from HM The Queen to attend a Garden Party at Buckingham Palace.

It was really exciting travelling up to London on the train, and making our way to the Palace. Usually all one gets to see is the famous view from the Mall, on the outside of those imposing railings. How excited we were to be invited through the gates, walk across the courtyard and enter the Palace, making our way through to the vast terrace that overlooks the rear gardens.

The gardens were huge – more like a public park, with paths and beautifully mature planted borders winding off in all directions. While there were many people there for the Garden Party, it was still possible to find yourself alone in a remote corner, and easy to forget that we were actually in the heart of one of the world’s busiest and noisiest capital cities.

A highlight for me was the afternoon tea. I have posted photos of both the menu, and my plate with selections from the finger buffet. You will see from these that I was enjoying the daintily trimmed sandwiches – cucumber, mint and black pepper, and also free range egg mayonnaise with cress. There is also a coronation chicken wrap with spinach and peppers.

The cakes were superb – my plate loaded with Dundee cake, strawberry and cream battenburg, and a chocolate and praline croustillant that bears an edible Royal Crown motif. My choice of drink is an iced coffee.

The members of the Royal Family in attendance were HM The Queen, HRH The Duke of Edinburgh and HRH The Duchess of Cambridge (now the Princess of Wales).

I was one of many invitees drawn from public services and the charity sector. An invitation to afternoon tea at a Buckingham Palace Garden Party was the Queen’s way of thanking us for our contribution, day in and day out, to supporting Britain’s local communities. It was a really nice gesture that was warmly received by all of us.

Following the sad events of this week, as a mark of respect I will be taking a short break from posting during the period of national mourning, after which normal service will be resumed.

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Blog

Lost in the Supermarket

Cooking from recipes prepared by our top chefs can sometimes involve tracking down rather obscure ingredients. Even if we have a vague awareness of the product, we may never have tasted or tried to buy it before. Items that fall into this list for me have included porcini mushrooms, Szechuan pepper, rose harissa and kashmiri chillis.

Searching out products that are unfamiliar can be a challenge. I am fortunate to have a large Sainsbury’s and a cavernous two tier Tesco’s virtually on my doorstep, but can I find these ingredients there?

The usual story begins with checking out where I thought they would be, but without success. My visit then descends into a kind of aimless cruising of the trolley up and down the aisles in the hope of inspiration, or at least that something associated with the item will catch my eye. In a place this size, I’m thinking, surely it must be here, somewhere?

How long to carry on with this pursuit can be a tough call – depending on your viewpoint, it demonstrates either a laudable spirit of not wanting to be defeated, or a petulant state of blind obstinacy.

Of course, I could ask an assistant. However, I never want a member of staff to feel that I expect them to have an encyclopedic knowledge of where everything is displayed, in a store the size of an aircraft hangar. Eggs, bread, cereals – fair enough, but something that even I have never heard of outside of a Jamie Oliver book? Forget it.

My go-to now for specialist ingredients is Waitrose. I learned this after a fruitless search for tahini in the larger stores. On arrival at a smaller branch of Waitrose, a very helpful assistant escorted me to the correct aisle and shelf, pointing out that they had not just one, but three different types. Good old Waitrose.

Although we have a great range of food shops in the UK, we should always remember that they are not all the same – each carefuly targets their own market niche, and as cooks/consumers we should be prepared to use this to our advantage.

After one of these experiences recently, I was playing The Clash’s great London Calling album in the ADK kitchen, and this track Lost in the Supermarket came on. It made me chuckle and I thought I would share it here. To be fair, I am pretty certain that Joe Strummer and Mick Jones didn’t intend this song to be about walking round Waitrose looking for tahini. Then again, you never know.

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Blog Desserts Snacks

Take Me to the Beach

We spent the long bank holiday weekend by the beach at Branksome. The weather is still great here, and it was easy to swim in the sea each day. On the final day the breaking surf was a little too choppy for my liking, so I settled for going in knee high, and a barefoot run along the shore, stepping and splashing through the lapping waves.

One of the many pleasures in a trip to the beach is an ice cream from the kiosk. On this occasion, I noticed that they were stocking the new Vegan Magnum, and decided to give it a try. It’s a dairy-free version of the legendary ice cream on a stick. I’m not vegan, but I am always open to trying new foods and have enjoyed a number of vegan desserts in the past.

I wasn’t sure what to expect – the Magnum I consider to be no less than a modern design classic, and I did wonder if messing around with its ingredients may turn out to be a disaster. I was thinking of what happened when Coca Cola decided to update a famous soft drink that everyone had grown up loving, only to have to yield to popular opinion and go back to making it by the original recipe.

I have to say I was pleasantly surprised. In fact, it is quite difficult to point out the differences in a blind taste. The Vegan version still has a delicate chocolate couverture, made from coconut oil and cocoa butter, that fragments indulgently as you bite into it. The underlying ice cream, made from pea protein with vanilla, is sweet and velvety, and not at all (as I had feared) unduly coconut tasting. The only real difference I could pinpoint is slightly less richness to the creamy taste, but not in any way that would put me off buying another.

Dairy-free alternatives to foods have been growing in popularity for some time. A relevant factor in this is concern about the contribution made by the livestock industry to climate warming, and consumption of water at a time of increasing drought. Many believe a vegan diet brings health benefits and is kinder to animals.

What is clear is that anyone who is vegan can now enjoy a Magnum when they visit the beach, a theme park or go on any other great day out: a wonderful contribution to the cause of equality of opportunity.

I’m hoping there will yet be a few more trips to the beach before the summer is through. That will probably mean a few more Vegan Magnums to come, as I make the most of our Pure Shores.

Take Me to the Beach!