All Things Considered

A Book for Cooks
Posted by Angie Lewin

Merrell very kindly sent me a copy of their recent publication A Book For Cooks.

Food writer and self-confessed bibliophile Leslie Geddes-Brown (who I had the pleasure of working with on Plants and Places) surveys 101 pioneering cookbooks, selected by her for their influence, their unusual recipes or simply for their beauty.

There's a brilliant selection of books cover a range of cuisines and dating from the seventeenth century to the present day - with each entry including a brief commentary on the book plus photographs of its cover and several inside pages.

Plenty of our own favourites feature - Colman Andrew's 'Catalan Cuisine', 'Plats Du Jour' by Patience Gray and Primrose Boyd (wonderfully illustrated by David Gentleman) and Ottolenghi's 'The Cookbook'.

But we've now got out eye on others - such as 'First Slice Your Cook Book' by Arabella Boxer.

The book features a cover and further illustrations by our friend Chloe Cheese - well known for her illustrative work and limited edition printmaking.

I'll also take this opportunity to mention the unsung hero of many of the books connected with St. Jude's, Nicola Bailey - the creative director at Merrell.

I've had the pleasure of working with Nicola on the design of Plants and Places, as did Chris Brown on his An Alphabet Of London and Mark Hearld did with his recently published Mark Hearld's Workbook.

In A Book For Cooks Nicola has done an amazing job at bringing together so many strong graphic book covers.

Posted by Angie Lewin on November 12th, 2012

Stoer Head Lighthouse
Posted by Angie Lewin

Although a previous blog about the coffee van on Cley beach might suggest otherwise, we don't base all our walks on the available catering but last week Leigh's bright blue van by the Stoer Head Lighthouse was a cheerful and welcoming sight.

The walk around the point isn't a long one but there are great clifftop views. Watching climbers scale the Old Man of Stoer is a bonus and the views from the trig point at the high point of the walk are incredible, whatever the weather. From the van, Leigh serves bacon rolls, venison burgers and pancakes. You can take your mug of tea and gaze out to sea watching the gulls wheel around the the cliffs below.

Posted by Angie Lewin on July 21st, 2011

The Food of Art
Posted by Simon Lewin

Our friends at Cortijada Los Gázquez in Andalucia are launching a new creative course this September.

The Food of Art is a creative course for those who enjoy creative activities around food such as food presentation, illustration and photography. As an eco-guest house the food is seasonal, fresh and local. 

Activities will include visiting the local markets and the jamon and embutidos emporiums to purchase the freshest and best looking products. Back at the kitchen/studio you'll consider their form and colour.

To find out more, visit the Cortijada Los Gázquez website.

Posted by Simon Lewin on June 17th, 2011

Jake Tilson
Posted by Simon Lewin

When Angie and I first met it was great to discover a shared passion for Jake Tilson's Atlas project.

Which made it even more of an honour when Jake agreed to contribute to our Random Spectacular publication which is in part inspired by the spirit of Atlas.

Later this year Quadrille will be publishing In At The Deep End, the follow up to the brilliant A Tale of Twelve Kitchens.

Bringing to mind the collections of material that Jake would create for Atlas, Creative Review have just blogged about the press pack for this latest book.

Posted by Simon Lewin on June 13th, 2011

Fox & Grapes
Posted by Simon Lewin

Christopher Brown recently created this linocut for Claude Bosi's Fox & Grapes pub on Wimbledon Common.

Our exhibition of Christopher Brown's prints opens at our gallery in Norfolk on Saturday 7th May 2011. If you'd like to receive an invitation to the opening and further details nearer the time, please sign up to our e-mail newsletter.

Posted by Simon Lewin on April 3rd, 2011

Riess enamelware
Posted by Kate Sullivan

This Christmas I received a beautiful powder blue milk pan made by Riess for Labour and Wait. It’s perfect for hot chocolates, morning porridge and the odd hot toddy.

Riess is a family run business that has been making a selection of kitchenware in the same hillside town in Austria, Ybbsitz, for over 200 years. Riess is now producing hydro-electic power from the stream that runs alongside the factory. The surplus electricity is then used to provide power to ten homes which are provided free of charge to the factory’s employees.

Each piece of cookware is produced and shaped from one single piece of steel in a series of pressing machines. The pots are given a black undercoat of enamel paint, (ground glass flakes), then given a coat of white before being hand sprayed with the traditional cream interior and finished with the chosen pastel exterior enamel shade. The pots are fired in a kiln after each layer of paint has been added. This quadruple firing and paint layering process helps to achieve their long lasting use and individual character and style. Available from Labour and Wait.

Posted by Kate Sullivan on January 28th, 2011

French Macaroons
Posted by Kate Sullivan

For a few years now, French Macaroons have been well documented on the blogasphere. I first made a batch some time ago and rather freakishly my attempts were pretty good. You see, the French Macaroon is notoriously tricky to perfect. For me it’s a bit of a Holy Grail - like achieving the perfect sourdough loaf. The many different recipes found on the web are both daunting and inspiring - it seems that I’m not alone in wanting to perfect the perfect ‘feet’, sheen, crunch and chew, that isn’t too garish in both colour and flavour (unlike the lavender ones I recently made - very Haze Air Freshener).

Over the past few weeks I have made around 350 of the dainty coloured biscuits for a big family gathering. Approximately three dozen eggs later and with fridge full of egg yolks I am quite willing to never make another macaroon again. I would however love to experience the authentic French Macaroon at the glamorous Laudree concession in Harrods or Pierre Herme’s shop in Selfridges who I first discovered through the inspiring food blog Foodbeam.

Posted by Kate Sullivan on August 1st, 2010

Mr Cinghiale
Posted by Simon Lewin

St. Jude's favourite, Christopher Brown, has just produced this wild boar illustration for Carluccio's. For a limited time you can purchase a copy of a poster of the image online from the Carluccio's store.

A selection of Chris' limited prints are available from our online print store.

Posted by Simon Lewin on February 28th, 2010

Jerusalem artichokes
Posted by Kate Sullivan

Knobbly, crunchy, nutty and unsociable when eaten (which winter vegetable isn't?).

To me, Jerusalem artichokes (a plant related to the sunflower) are a delicious but often over looked vegetable. Having a similar taste to the spiky summer fruiting globe artichoke but without the arduous preparation (especially when preserving).

The winter choke is fabulous eaten raw with a remoulade salad, comforting when pureed to a soup and topped with scallops or my favourite - sliced then baked in a dish with cream, thyme, garlic, pancetta and parmesan.

Posted by Kate Sullivan on December 20th, 2009

Leila’s Shop & Deli
Posted by Simon Lewin

We finally made it to Leila's Café just by Arnold Circus, London E2 the other weekend. The only shame was we'd already eaten breakfast so couldn't sample the food properly (the fried eggs & ham looked fab).

And we were recently introduced to a new website, Spitalfields Life, a personal blog covering the history, culture, personalities and domestic life of the area. They like Leila's too...

"It is almost impossible for me to walk past Leila’s shop without succumbing to curiosity and stepping inside to see what is new. Regularly, I leave clutching a small brown paper bag with a dark moist slice of gingerbread inside to lift my spirits. This is something that can make my day. When they are in season, I have bought highly scented Narcissi from the Scilly Isles here and Bluebells from Cornwall too. Leila always tries to keep English flowers in stock, in fact whenever I ask where any of her stock comes from, whether a little bag of Lapsang Souchong or a large jar of Honey, there is always a story attached." More

Leila's Shop & Café is at 17 Calvert Avenue, London E2 7JP. Photo courtesy of Spitalfields Life.

Posted by Simon Lewin on October 9th, 2009