Category: Food & Drink

Schweppes Switch

There is so much to get irritated about that it’s a wonder I have time for anything else. The latest annoyance is the repackaging of tonic water and soda water into similar looking black cans. Inadvertently pouring a gin and soda is jolly cross-making, although disaster can be averted by lacing it with lime cordial.

Cocktail Time

Frederick, 5th Earl of Ickenham, is my favourite PG Wodehouse character and if you have the misfortune not to be acquainted with him where better to be introduced than by reading Cocktail Time, published in 1958. Then you can call him Uncle Fred.

Lunchtime Prom

The Prom I went to on Monday wasn’t at the Albert Hall and there were no Prommers. It was at lunchtime at Cadogan Hall, near Sloane Square.

First Slice Your Cookbook

The Earldom of Moray, pronounced “Murray” like the tennis player, is an ancient Scottish title going back to the 14th century. We need not concern ourselves with those early holders of the title. The 18th Earl, born in 1894, married a Barbara Murray from Fifth Avenue, New York, in 1922. I wonder if they were… Continue reading First Slice Your Cookbook

Farmers’ Markets

When farmers’ markets first came to London they were fun, a shopping destination on Saturday morning. Now …

Three in a Canoe

In museums I find that I’m often looking at the exhibits through a prism of my family history. There was no question of this today.

Un Déjeuner Sérieux

This week I’m a guest in an old farmhouse rented by friends. It’s in the Dordogne, favoured destination for the English since the 14th century when for a time it was under English rule. My first visit to this part of France. The country is more heavily wooded than the Gers and the contours much… Continue reading Un Déjeuner Sérieux

In the Soup

The family snap I posted a few days ago brought back some memories of growing up in the 1950s and 60s in rural Ireland that might, perhaps, amuse you.