The Tea Box

In the UK we drink 2.3kg of tea per person per year (source: Euromonitor), with homeworkers drinking twice that (source: totally made up, but quite possibly true).

The UK Tea Council‘s website has, along with loads of brilliant tea facts and stats, a cupometer showing how many cups of tea have been drunk that day. The numbers spin fast. So far today it’s just past 116,400,000 and it’s only, well, tea time.

As for most people, the majority of my daily cups are straight ‘builders’ – teabag (Yorkshire Tea for Hard Water), strong, milk, one sugar – but there are times that gets a bit monotonous and I seek something a little more exotic.

So I was very excited to learn about the latest food box subscription – the tea taster box – and immediately blagged one from the nice people at Tea Horse.

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The Manchester Egg

It seems strange now to think that before the weekend I’d never heard of the Manchester Egg.

My first encounter came on Saturday morning via my husband’s wing of the London Branch of the Manchester City supporters club who’d spotted it on the menu at the Mark Addy (the acclaimed Mcr gastropub chosen for this week’s pre-match beers) and were getting a bit giddy. (Sadly, when they got there, it had sold out.)

Then there it was again at the Manchester Christmas Market in Albert Square. ‘Mr Holden’s Manchester Egg: A hearty commodity worthy of a gentleman.’ Then someone drew our attention to an article in Saturday’s Independent. Finally I head of to my brother-in-law’s birthday party and end up talking to the Egg’s pr. Now I’m even being followed by the Egg on Twitter.

Here is the Egg:

Reclaim cool bars!

Why should cool bars be the preserve of the young?

I’m the first to admit I don’t get out enough these days, but that doesn’t mean to say when I do go out I only want to go to child-friendly restaurants, book groups, or pub quiz nights. In fact only the last of those do I go to with any enthusiasm.

Supporting the local economy, one mouthful at a time

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – I love it when people send me free food.

So I was very pleased when Kristina from Makerhood arrived on my doorstep this morning with this:

It’s the first ever raffle prize I’ve won (if you don’t count a bag of dog biscuits 8 years ago – and I don’t even have a dog): a hamper from  Brixton cafe/’corner shop’ Cornercopia.

Six courses, seven wines, four amuse-bouches, one palate cleanser and a plate of petit fours

If anyone ever offers you vouchers amounting to a substantial sum of money for the restaurant of your choice in London in exchange for blogging about their dishwasher powder, then might I recommend Viajante?

Ever since watching The Trip last year, I’ve been determined that, somehow or other, I would have one amazing meal this year. And last night I did.

Now I’m not going to review the restaurant – without a Will Self App™ I simply don’t have enough adjectives – but show you what I had as one unashamed bit of showing off.

The lunching habits of the homeworker

Hey, fellow homeworkers. What did you have for lunch today?

I’m guessing a significant number didn’t stop for lunch because you’ve got a piece of work to finish and children to pick up from school at 3.30pm.

A lot will have just been grazing from the fridge/biscuit tin all morning because you are working on something really dull that you’ve yet to really get a handle on and need displacement activities.

#72 Burns Night and an hommage to haggis

Like many other Londoners who came from the North but sound like they grew up in Kent, there are certain times when my paternal lineage bubbles up and I come over all Scots: New Year’s Eve, St Andrew’s Day, whenever Scotland beat England at something, discussion of tuition fees, listening to Alex Salmond choose the Proclaimers on Desert Island Discs, hearing people sing the wrong words to Auld Lang Syne (and feeling compelled to correct them), watching Local Hero/Gregory’s Girl, and of course Burns Night.

#67 Review of the year

Books I wish I’d written

Stewart Lee’s How I Escaped My Certain Fate

Niki Segnit’s The Flavour Thesaurus

Jonathan Coe’s The Terrible Privacy of Maxwell Sim

#63 Comfort food, part II

When the going gets tough, the tough, as they say, get going. Meanwhile the not-so-tough reach for the carbohydrates.

A series of disasters last week left me with a serious need for potato. It’s got a history of providing sustenance to the poor and down-on-their-luck.

My friend Violet and I have for years talked about opening an exclusive potat0-oriented restaurant, where the focus of each dish is the potato element rather than the protein, as we find this is usually what influences our menu choices  anyway.

And with last year’s comfort food post still trending as the most popular on this blog (what are you people like?) and snow falling from the sky in soft powdery white flakes then lying on the ground like an icy death trap, I felt a sequel was called for.

So in no particular order, here are my top ten potato dishes. Most of which I have, I’m ashamed to say, actually eaten in the past ten days. As I say, bad week.

#61 Paris on 1,000 words a day

If you haven’t had a full day to yourself since there was an elected government; or if the bus ride to work is the closest you get to ‘me time’; or if you are reading this in a spare five minutes (ok three) between deadlines and school pick ups, then LOOK AWAY NOW.

And if your toddler won’t even let you go to the loo alone, or if you never do anything except other people’s washing and other people’s suppers and other people’s homework, or if you’ve been reading the same page of your book for the past six weeks, then my sincere apologies in advance.