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.

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.

testing, testing, 1,2,3,4,5…….

In 1982, the German and, frankly, slightly crazy, director Werner Herzog made a film called Fitzcarraldo. It tells the story of an Irishman named Brian Sweeney Fitzgerald, who hopes to makes his fortune by collecting rubber in Peru (surely “mining” isn’t the correct word – insert joke about hitting rubber with pickaxes here). Fitzgerald hatches [...]

An Aga Goddess? Moi?

It may surprise you to know that I was recently featured in, of all things, the Financial Times. What might James be doing in the pink pages, you might ask? Have I been charged with embezzlement? Is Whisk being bought over by the Santander Group? Have I discovered a means of turning water into petrol that only costs three pence a litre?

A Home What?

A home what?

People are always asking me the same questions:

1. “How did you get to be so dashing, talented handsome, James?”

2. “I’m having a few friends over for cocktails and nibbles next week. Do you have any good suggestions for couscous?”

3. “What does a home economist do, exactly?”