This week, I have had the most difficult task of admitting that I was wrong. In my naivety, I honestly believed that planning a wedding would not impact on my other activities (how clueless I was) and that my baking club, blog and various food-related activities would not suffer as a result. As you may have seen, Band of Bakers is on a little summer hiatus and my blog posts are becoming fewer and further between. They are all buried under dress fittings, menu tastings, endless emails and trying to co-ordinate a number of guests who are all travelling to San Sebastian for the ceremony in a little over three weeks. Add to this a rather monotonous healthy eating regime and an attempt to save money by not eating out and you find that, even if you had the time to write, there would be little to actually write about.
Bottom line: weddings take over your life. And I have a wedding planner!
Of course, this is a temporary situation. My wedding is taking place in the gastronomic capital of Europe, so there will be plenty of subject matter there. It seems that most people I know have either been to, or are planning a trip to, San Sebastian. If you haven’t been, it is definitely worth considering for your next holiday, especially if eating and drinking is your thing. In addition to this, we are embarking on a honeymoon road trip through Andalucia, again very much with culinary endeavours in mind. I will be returning to London in July when, hopefully, normal service will be resumed. Until then, I simply ask that you bear with me.
Instead of writing up one of my recipes (I haven’t cooked anything in days) or writing a nice long post about a restaurant I’ve been to (too stressed to pay too much attention), I have instead cobbled together a few things from the last week that have popped up on my food radar. Kind of like the old days of ‘Monday Miscellany’ but, of course, on a Wednesday. Even the days all roll into one these days. I must buy a diary.
Pizza Making
Anchovy and olive pizza
Last week could have easily been entitled ‘Life in Salad’, so I was obviously thrilled to come home from a particularly gruelling Friday to Ollie making pizza in the kitchen. Needless to say, I devoured them all. I looked back through my previous posts for something on pizzas and was surprised to find I had written nothing. I even have a list of ‘London Pizzas I Love’ scrawled on a piece of notepaper and tacked up next to my desk, so I will write that up at some point. The picture above is one of three pizzas he made using Dan Lepard’s absolutely foolproof pizza dough recipe, and a topping of anchovies and olives. Bliss.
Southampton Street Food Market
Pork souvlaki – Southampton style
To the sounds of a chorus of “it’s about bloody time”, street food has finally arrived in Southampton. Yes, I know the majestic 7Bone had a burger stall, one that even featured on the BBC’s Restaurant Man, but that was ages ago. This market has taken over the strip along the pedestrianised part of the city centre at weekends, the spot previously occupied by the ahem, German market at Christmas. It hasn’t quite reached the standard of similar markets in London, but is a good starting point (and far cheaper). I had a perfectly decent pork souvlaki from Greekville, that certainly helped to undo the hangover I had from sinking G&T’s in The Alex the night before.
The Grazing Goat, Southampton
Goat curry with dumplings
This is the first of two visits I am making to this new Southampton gastro pub, so will leave the review until I have time to write up the full post. I just wanted to praise their goat curry with dumplings, which was sublime.
Toast, East Dulwich
Quail with gremolata
Orange cake
Toast may be the perfect place to hide out when the heavens open during a Lordship Lane expedition – warm, cosy and with a good wine list – you could find yourself there for hours. I have been several times before, but only for coffee and a slice of their delicious banana bread (OK, and some wine), and used to go regularly when it was the old Green & Blue, but yesterday was the first time I actually went in for lunch. We started with an off menu order of quail with gremolata, £10 including a glass of Cote du Rhone (bargain), then shared a slice of moist orange cake alongside our espressos. As soon as I am back from Spain and eating out again, I expect Toast will become a regular spot, not least because it is great to have such quality food within walking distance of our flat.
The Boozy Rouge 