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A feuilleté of quail eggs and asparagus to celebrate Ms Molyneux’s 90th

Some cookbooks have a longer shelf life than others. Well-thumbed, splattered indelibly with ingredient stains, they’ve stayed the course. Many courses, if you forgive the culinary jeu de mot. One such tome is The Carved Angel Cookbook by Joyce Molyneux, a bastion of my recipe collection since it was published in 1990. It sold 50,000 […]

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Splash out on the big Baths Bash – Indy Man Beer Con tickets go on sale

Saturday, October 5, 2019 was a blast. As we staggered out into a blurry Hathersage Road, clutching our souvenir glasses, to let the evening session brigade into Victoria Baths it was ‘see you again next year’ time all round. Little did we know then that the next Indy Man Beer Con would not be for […]

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Magnolia petals – a floral tribute to foraging free spirits Jack and Julian 

For those of you who pigeonhole Jack Monroe as just a consumer Joan of Arc, championing society’s downtrodden and deprived I have two words: magnolia petals. This week she Tweeted about ‘A Few of my Favourite Things’ and nature’s free bounty featured. Of course, it did. She wrote: “Did you know that magnolia petals are […]

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How Alphonso Mango season led me into the clutches of Buddha’s Fingers

Alphonso mangoes are not lookers. Even the most mottled quince would win a beauty contest with them and the furry bloom of an in-season peach is infinitely more Instagrammable. But all is forgiven once you squeeze the exotic, saffron-coloured pulp out of the yellow skin, the ripe smell almost coconutty, a reminder of the South […]

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The Alan has landed! Why chef Iain Thomas’s exquisite hotel menu floors me

The unlikely spectres of Cliff Richard and Paul Kitching haunt my imagination as I dine (magnificently) in a new Manchester hotel that restores my faith in exposed brickwork and small plates. Both the 81-year-old former poster boy of British pop and the one-time enfant terrible of Michelin tasting menus are still going strong. So this […]

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