David

Hey Andrew,

Would you believe Jim Beam! It’s all it’s good for, in my opinion. It worked a treat.

D

Prepared my breakfast table… bowl of cereal, jug of coffee. Sat down, relaxed into my chair, let go one of those deep contented sighs… poured the milk over my cereal, into my coffee… and it was rancid and sour.

That’s it. Day ruined.

The place to go for bagels in London is The Brick Lane Beigel Bakery. They are plump, moist and succulent with a slight crunch on the outside. Best of all, you can buy them here 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Come to think of it, I think I might just head out now at this midnight hour to make sure I have a supply for breakfast!

London has great bagels. It’s official.

It doesn’t get easier or quicker than this…

Pan-fried sea-bass fillet with butter and lemon (4 minutes). Boiled new potatoes tossed in great olive oil (10 minutes). Steamed broccoli (4 minutes).

And that was for the kids. Fast food the way it should be, in my opinion.

Bought a ham and cheese sandwich in a store. It was rubbish. I had to throw it away. I wish I’d made my own. How much money (and food) do we waste for the sake of convenience?

I like museums, amusement parks, day-out places for kids, etc. I have yet to find one with food that is both reasonable and priced well. Sure, some might do a decent salad… but must you really have to pay through the nose for it? I reckon it always pays to take your own.

Make mine a picnic please.

Here’s a cool tip I learned last night from a chef who runs a take-out salad service. In order to keep the salad fresh-tasting and to avoid that soggy lettuce syndrome, he dresses only the parts of the salad that won’t wilt (beans, artichoke hearts, carrots, onions, etc). He then layers his salad, placing a bit of the dressed stuff at the bottom, then some leaves, then a little more of the dressed stuff, then more leaves and so on. When you transfer the salad from the container to the plate, it all gets mixed together and so it feels like the entire salad has been dressed as one. Nice!

I ate at Craft tonight… Angela’s treat. It was exquisite. There is inspiration in the chard (I think in the form of pickled chard roots). What a thing. I can taste it even now. More to follow when I am in less of a food coma.

Believe it or not, I usually choose any kind of cake ahead of chocolate cake. Tonight though, I had no choice… it was chocolate cake or nothing. It was purchased from from Al Gelato in LA. I urge anyone in the vicinity to get down there immediately and take a slab of it home. Eat it in bed. I don’t know quite why I say this… it just feels like the right place for it. Oh… it’s pretty good with whipped cream too.

Meat… you just can’t beat it.

Today I ate a wild lobster. I am not sure I have eaten one before… I may have, but nobody has alerted me to the fact. It was served up with a butter sauce. It didn’t need it. It melted on the tongue. It was sweet and succulent while still conjuring the ocean. What a treat.

I had chocolate cake for breakfast. It didn’t go too well with my scrambled egg.

Forgive me… but it’s been more than a month since my last shout… (5 Bloody Mary’s and all is forgiven.)

Last night I had my first Chinese meal in an age. Peking Duck done well is one of the finest things, no? It is something I will never try re-creating at home as I know I will never do it as well. Sushi too. Does that make me a coward?

In such hot and sultry conditions as we experienced in LA today, it is hard to muster the energy to cook. Instead of a usual Saturday night feast, we laid our table with cheeses, cold cuts, salad and a loaf of French bread. It was as good a meal as I have eaten in some time. Moreover, we stayed at the table far longer than we would usually, nibbling on one last morsel of cheese to finish off the wine. I am so content now I think I shall sleep right here on the sofa.

Will someone please come and take this laptop away.

You don’t need to be Chinese to enjoy congee for breakfast. What a great stomach settler!