The Best of British Gin

The Best of British Gin

Like most of us I love a tipple….. or maybe two. My tipple is gin and tonic. Not any old gin but one that comes from near to where I live. I was joking a few weeks ago to some friends about how my gin consumption was ethical as my “gin miles” (well, we all know of food miles!) are low. My favourite gin is distilled 4 tube stops from my flat in London. A distillery on the door step! I’m proud of this fact which something that people like Betty Ford may cringe about, but when you have a London Dry Gin that has won more awards than any other gin and is the only premium London Dry Gin still distilled in London, one can be proud of of what they are enjoying as they sup.

Tractors, Cheltenham Ladies and Nutty Krust!

It’s not every day that I attend a horse race however last night’s was special. It was the final of the AGA Total Control Ladies Point to Point Race at Cheltenham Racecourse. I was there in attendance and what a great night of Hospitality AGA provided. Congratulations to the winners and how lucky Claire Hart is to have won an AGA Total Control cooker. After 10 years of working for AGA I now know the dilemma she faces. What colour? Well there are 13 of them!

Best of British Food!

Asparagus, Jersey Royals and Rhubarb – the Best of British food.

Spring has finely sprung. That to me suggests spring cleaning – you know, washing out the cupboards where the saucepans live and also throwing out accumulated rubbish or donating unused items to charity.

China

You may recall some time ago in 2009 I was in China co-presenting a TV series for China Food TV about Food Adventures on the Silk Road.

Well, have a look, the preview is out! And its on air in China too…

Let’s hear it for New York – London, Belfast and …..

Looking back through old blogs, and reflecting upon the thousands of words scribbled here, I’ve begun to realise something. There are two recurrent themes in my writing: food and travel. These, one could argue, are your most basic human imperatives. I might complain about it, but I’ve always felt the need to go exploring, to discover new worlds – brave or otherwise.This urge gives my life a strange, often frustrating propulsion: I get twitchy if I stay in the same place for too long, yet I get homesick when I’ve been away for too long. And I’m away from home a lot.

Of course, the reason that I find myself in a state of perpetual motion is because of food and kitchen appliances. If I had never chosen the profession in which I am now ensconced, I sorely doubt that I would have trotted as much of the globe as I have. People all over the world need food and kitchen appliances, and in most instances they like their food to be tasty and not too much hassle to prepare. It’s that need which has led to me demonstrating cooking techniques from Land’s End to John O’ Groats, and from The Great Wall Of China to Toronto’s CN Tower.