Travel
An evening with Gennaro Contaldo at Cucina Caldesi proved entertaining as well as useful. One of Gennaro’s rules is to always use seasonal products so, around about now, that includes the pumpkin – three of them in fact: The pumpkin is a member of the plant genus Cucurbita L. and includes squashes, pumpkins, courgettes and…
October 2015 Winning ‘Best Honey in London’ has made me very proud. Not that it’s been especially easy to get to this point. After doing my training with Capital Bee towards the end of 2011, I finally got my hive and bees in May 2012. The hive is in Cordwainers Garden, the community garden that…
August 2015 Just over a year ago, my friend, Yolanda, and I were asked if we’d like to write about architectural skylines around the world. Not just any old skylines; they would be buildings or our choosing, creating an imaginary skyline that would hopefully encapsulate the history, culture and heart of the cities we had…
March 2015 From time to time, the charitable foundation, the Bulldog Trust, opens the charming Two Temple Place for excellent exhibitions. This one is no exception. ‘Cotton to Gold’ brings together some of the extraordinary collections of wealthy philanthropists who made their fortunes in the Industrial North West. The collections were generously loaned by the…
Cremona was home to three of the most important violin-making families: Stradivari, Guarneri and Amati. The recently opened Museo del Violino tells their story, and offers an insight into five centuries of violin-making.
A recent story about tiny sea snail teeth that were stronger than titanium reminded me of the time I met a Sardinian woman who harvested ‘bisso’, strong silk-like fibres secreted by a marine bivalve mollusc, known as pinna nobilis or ‘fan mussel’. Chiara Vigo is an interesting woman; a descendant of 30 generations of bisso-weavers,…
I was invited by Visit Devon to discover its food and drink delights, which included first-class wine and champagne, the freshest fish, and all manner of blueberry products. Some of the places visited: Yelverton’s Wildflower restaurant in the Moorland Garden Hotel Commodore in Instow Le Bistro Pierre Blueberry Brothers Eastcott Vineyard in Okehampton Pebblebed Vineyard…
Tataouine, in southern Tunisia, is famous for the trogolodyte buildings of the native Berber* population. It’s so other-worldly, that director George Lucas used it as a backdrop for one of his Star Wars films. The buildings are actually ancient grain stores, or ksour, and you can read more in my Time Out article here.
Venice was once a water-logged destination for those escaping the plague on mainland Italy. It became one of the most powerful Italian republics, a great maritime power, and centre for the world’s finest art and music. Today the city seems to be drowning under the weight of its success. Each year it’s invaded by tourists…
On my latest visit to Devon I discovered a vibrant craft scene that includes ceramics, blacksmithing, and glass-blowing, along with an incredible range of food and drinks. Read about Devon’s quality wine, beer and gin, organic edible flowers, jams, fresh fish and chilli, in my article for ‘Discovering Devonshire Delights’ for Foodtripper. Some of the…