Category: Food & Drink

Swiss Role

The Honourable Artillery Company takes pride in being the oldest regiment in the British Army, founded by Henry VIII in 1537. It is irksome for the HAC that Pope Julius II founded the Pontifical Swiss Guard in 1506.

The Bread of Life

Recently I stayed in two houses (both in France) and went to lunch at another (in London) where the bread was home made.

What’s Cooking?

People who are desperate to make some sort of conversation with me sometimes ask how I think up something to write about every day. Well, I have a fall-back in Robert Redfern-West, an erudite and hugely amusing reader in California (?) who sends me super-stimulating (intellectually) e mails and posts super-duper comments – latest yesterday.

Negroni Sbagliato

I expect you have had some bad experiences with builders. Cobby found that they had built the fireplace off-centre in his drawing room. (He is the sort of person that could never have a lounge or a sitting room.)

Risotto & Ratio

My great-great-great-great grandfather is a distinguished Spanish mathematician and scientist. It would be repetitious to write about him as older readers will remember the story from a September 2015 post, A Spy in the Family.

Clubland

White’s was founded in 1693, a year before the Bank of England. London’s clubland provides a rich seam of anecdotes and unusual information some of which may be new to you.

Appointment at the Dentist

My first office in the City was in Mark Lane – I was there for sixteen years. Now I re-visit to see my dentist. On Monday when she’d finished with me I visited St Olave’s – where Samuel Pepys worshipped and is buried.

Making Music

I invited a great-niece and a god-daughter to a Prom this week. In hunting terminology this is called running a bitch pack and is a compliment. Tom Isaacs, a famous huntsman at the end of the 19th century, said that “his bitch pack were the ones for killing foxes” but forrard, forrard (another hunting term).

Macaroni Cheese

If there is a ready-made supermarket Macaroni Cheese that is any good I haven’t found it. I read The Greasy Spoon, Luke Honey’s eclectic blog on matters pertaining to food and culinary history, and last month he posted about the perfect Macaroni Cheese receipt.

Healthy & Sixty?

My grandfather advocated doing no more than one thing a day. When there was nothing on the agenda he declared it a dies non (a day on which no legal business can be done, or which does not count for legal purposes). Robert calls it “having a quiet day at home”.