Backyard Pantry

The Worker Bee

January 18, 2013

This week has felt like rusty gears grinding into action. Screeching alarm clock and only a cursory flick through the papers. Resentful hounds hauled from their post breakfast snooze for their constitutional walk. Switching the work ethic back on again dragging me back to the realities of working routines.

I know I have an easy ride here at Domestic Executive HQ but I empathise with the pains of returning to work. Of commuting to offices full of people facing the stark reality that issues so artfully kicked into the long grass of the holidays emerge again but twice as aggravating.

The out of office message on my work email tells people go away unless you have a pressing need. The phone remains blissfully quiet aside from a few celebratory calls for New Year and clients looking to engage me on new assignments. A text from someone enjoying school holidays with her kids summed it all up for me – “Am so not in work mode let’s not spoil the dream.” So we didn’t.

Bee at work in the kitchen garden

‘Tis the season

January 9, 2013

There is no drearier reminder that the holidays are over when Auld Lang Syne stops playing incessantly in one’s head and the Christmas decorations are taken down for another year. Expunging the carols, the colour and that frivolous yet satisfying seasonal tat is like a bugle call to return to normal life.

At least here in the southern hemisphere we can just step out of the door to overcome any festive sensory deprivation as nature wields its own kaleidoscope of seasonal traditions, colours and creativity. This is the time of year when the kitchen garden rushes into production overdrive testing my stamina to keep pace.

The beans and peas may be clambering skywards but the weeds are cementing themselves in the paths. It may be a time of abundance but unless you pay full attention your salads will go to seed or you’ll run out of canes and string just as the winds whip up another assault on your sunflowers and sweet peas. Intentions to write a fulsome garden journal evaporate along with whimsical dreams of afternoons lazing on the garden bench reading a poetry and sipping home-made lemonade. Instead it’s a quick slurp of water to stave off dehydration whilst mentality reloading the to-do list and scavenging my brain for ever more creative ways of serving up courgettes.

Only when the chores are done can I relax. That precious moment to wander down to the kitchen garden for in-situ hors d’oeuvres. This time of day I conjure up ideas of a barbecue under the arbour to cook-up right there in the garden but such day-dreams are snuffed out the moment a gust of wind whistles past as a reminder that what the garden really needs is industrial strength bean frames and self-weeding paths.

Daily Snap: first summer garden harvest

January 7, 2013

Daily Snap: Summer Promise

January 2, 2013

Summer Promise

Feeling like a gooseberry

December 22, 2012

I never intended to step away from blogging for so long. Before I knew it, a few days of ambivalence stretched to weeks and then a month. The exciting prospect of talking about my daily exploits was gone and with it my inclination to take photographs and the stories that have so freely danced in my head simply dried up. All of a sudden I found myself with nothing I wanted to say.

It was only the other day when I popped one of these lovely gooseberries into my mouth did it dawn on me that I’d lost my blogging confidence because I felt awkward reporting on the minutia of life. I had come to be the metaphorical gooseberry on my own blog. Like being at a crowded party with people speaking loudly and energetically but I was the shy bystander hovering at the edges waiting for the perfect moment to escape to the solace of my own company. So I did.

I’d like to pronounce I’m back! But I’m not sure I am.

But with a long stretch of holiday in front of me I’ve decided it’s a make or break experiment. Get back blogging or admit that I’ve done my dash and it’s time to move onto other things. With time on my hands to embrace things I really enjoy I’m hoping it will kick start my blogging juices again.

Away from blogging, things have been pretty busy here at Domestic Executive HQ. The garden is blooming but behind all the glamour there are hours of back-breaking effort to keep the weeds at bay and maintain some semblance of order. It didn’t help that our new monster all terrain mower was doing wonders on our long grass banks but failing to trim our lawn. Let me tell you there is no fun in pushing a mower up and down for over an hour even if the exercise is good for me. After some smart re-engineering we’re back in ride-on mowing business though which is a blessed relief.

I’ve extended the kitchen garden with two new beds and one of them is filling up fast with a wealth of salads. The other is waiting to be filled with soil and compost which is neatly piled up by the barn and starting to sprout its own vegetation during the delay in moving it the 150m down the garden. I’ve fallen out of love with artichokes and will be digging them up this week and instead installing more root vegetables, pumpkins and winter greens. As soon as the strawberries have done their dash this year they are destined for a move to one of the new beds and in their place I shall be building up our berry stock. Maybe even couple more gooseberry bushes.

Our new conservatory is almost complete. Just the flooring and lighting to be installed. A stark reminder that New Zealand is a small country at the end of the earth with retailers who have “just-in-time” stock control systems that involve delayed reaction of 6-8 weeks. This hasn’t stopped us moving in and enjoying the wind free indoor-outdoor flow experience. Even on a dull cloudy drizzly day like today, sitting in the conservatory is a light lovers haven.

Aside from major projects and keeping up with work, I’ve had some fun in smaller ways.

I “read” Crossing to Safety by Wallace Stegner on audio book. A stunning book that makes you realise the complex beauty in human relationships.
I also really read The Man Who Ate Everything – a wonderful collection of essays on food and eating which was November’s book of the month on The Kitchen Reader. I shall do a better late than never review on the blog over the coming weeks.
My dear husband brought me back a rather special present from his recent business trip to US and Canada. I was never a fan of the iPad until my iPad mini arrived. Small and beautifully formed. The perfect device for nocturnal web surfing and will save me lugging my laptop around town for business now I can access key documents in the palm of my hand.
Although I missed Sweet New Zealand in November, I stepped back into the wheat baking vortex and made biscotti for my work Christmas gifts. I aim to showcase the delicious wheat free version here on the blog soon.
I’ve been enjoying the photographs of a local photographer on Instagram for a while but she recently launched her own website and is now selling prints.
Basset hound lovers are really some of the most generous and hilarious on the internet. @Gustbear has given me a huge number of giggles with #bassetfacts. My own dear hounds are as lovable as ever although I regret I have yet to publish my 2013 basset calendar but there is still time left before the end of the year to get onto that!
I’m having a careful think about whether to stick with Instagram giving all the brew ha ha over their terms and conditions. In the meantime, here’s a link to the new web view of my iPhone photographs
I love Twitter for real time fun and its capability for me to curate my own personal news feed. Turns out now you can download your twitter feed and look back at what a twit you might have been.

Life and Cherries

November 17, 2012

Life is rattling by and I’ve not yet found the right laxative for my creative constipation hence the lack of blogging in the last couple of weeks. Instead I’ve been busying myself with other things – good and wholesome things – but distracting and tiring. It’s that time of year when there is so much to do and so little time to do it all. Normally I’d be celebrating the coming of Spring, the fresh bounty from the garden but an unseasonably cold snap has me grumpy and resentful towards nature instead. I need sunshine to be most inspired and it’s been a little lacking of late.

Still, there are cherries growing in the orchard. There might even be enough to fill a bowl this year if I manage to get the bird nets up soon and the wild Wellington winds don’t blow them away. We have miniature pears coming too, full of promise for autumn and if I’m not mistaken the signs of some medlars. Just a few, but enough to get me anxious about when they’ll be ready to pick and the complexities of bletting them to bring them to perfect condition for eating. Down in the kitchen garden things are shaping up too having spent a full day planting out seedlings and constructing bamboo frames to help the peas and beans climb their merry way.

All in all, life is good. No complaints, just a lack of writing inspiration. I can feel a breakthrough coming soon, but in the meantime, I thought I’d share with you some of the things that have brought a smile to my face of late.

I’ve actually ordered my photo Christmas cards so there is half a chance that family and friends might actually get them in the mail to arrive before Christmas. Now that would make a change.
I took a day-workshop in calligraphy which was fun and resurrected a skill I first learned as a sign writer in my first job (endless posters promoting events in a leisure centre in days when personal desk top publishing and word-processing weren’t even invented)
I finished another audio book (the perfect accompaniment to weeding). I thoroughly recommend Midnight in Peking a sad tale of intrigue that brings out the best and worst of human nature.
New Zealand is gearing up for the premiere of the Hobbit. Air New Zealand have once again pulled out all the stops to make a Hobbit entertaining safety video.
We’re on the home stretch with our veranda to conservatory conversion. The bassets and I are loving it already.
I found a great food book blog and enjoying this month’s book The Man Who Ate Everything – a wonderful collection of essays on food and eating.
Sue – aka Couscous & Consciousness was October’s host of Sweet New Zealand. Sue did a wonderful round-up on her blog with heaps of lovely things to make and eat.
I finally found out who did it in the Mousetrap after it played to a packed audience here in Wellington to celebrate its 60th anniversary.
The rewards of the new eating regime are paying off. Those smaller jeans I’ve had languishing in the wardrobe for years fit me again.
One of my favourite food bloggers has published her book – can’t wait to sample some of Maddi’s recipes for myself.
Following the exploits of my friend Heather as she studies at the Wellington Le Cordon Bleu school.

I can feel a creative breakthrough on the horizon just like I can feel summer peaking it’s nose around the next cloud. I suspect it will involve dusting off my camera, a ton or two of compost and a long summer break. Not to mention cracking the baking code for no wheat bread and cakes.

Spring Greens and Other New Starts

October 21, 2012

There is something rather elicit about a long weekend created by a public holiday. It feels so much more of a gift of an extra day off work than those long weekends created from your holiday entitlement. Not that I get paid holidays of course, self employment doesn’t quite have that perk. Technically speaking I have a long weekend every week but the work ethic in me maintains those days for domestic labour so weekends still have a special place in the calendar and I can still generate those luxurious feelings a weekend generates.

Like Easter weekend in the northern hemisphere, Labour Weekend in New Zealand is a watershed moment in a gardeners diary. Traditionally time to flock to the garden centre and stock up on annuals, vegetables and lug bags of compost home with dreams of what the growing season will bring. Now I am growing much of my vegetables and annual flowers from seed I can skip the crowds and make better use of the time in the garden itself. Or I would be if it was pounding with rain and blowing a gale again. Still, there are plenty of seedlings to pot on under cover and hope that tomorrow I will actually be able to plant out my peas, beans and gourmet spuds. I fear my new bed building project will be delayed for another week.

I didn’t grow broad beans through the winter this year but we still have a plethora of spring vegetables from the garden on the table. Last night I harvested artichokes, leeks, asparagus and celery much of which were made it into a tasty bouillabaisse or if you prefer, fish stew. I am hatching a plan to bake bread tomorrow which requires copious amounts of egg whites so naturally I shall use the egg yolks for a rich hollandaise sauce to pair with the fresh artichokes. I may or may not also trial a no sugar ice cream to celebrate the long weekend.

Talking of things to celebrate, I heard this week that I have been accepted for a place on the Le Cordon Bleu Master of Gastronomic Tourism. When I say accepted, what I really mean is that they verified that my BA (Hons) and MBA weren’t fake and are now ready to take my fees. So from mid January weekends will no doubt include lots of studying but this is one Masters Degree I am going to relish from a purely personal point of view even if I am hatching plans for the longer term to shift my own professional work into a new space. What that means fully I’m not quite sure. I have ideas, some a little crazy, but grounded in soul searching and long conversations with myself about how I see life panning out. No doubt that this is all part of a seven-year itch since it was a little more that seven years ago that we made plans to shift to New Zealand and now having made that leap it’s the way of nature that I should start another cycle of life adventure.

For a while I toyed with the idea of studying at the Le Cordon Bleu here in Wellington and had fantasies about opening a bakery that specialised in vegetable cakes and breads. And maybe one day I will when we have completed grounded our wheat free, low carb, no sugar dietery regime. In the meantime, I am living the experience vicariously though my friend Heather who has just started and is writing about her experiences and taking lessons on making such choices from others such as the lovely Emma who writes at Poire Au Chocolate. To some extent I am going full circle in my formal higher education since my first degree was in Leisure Studies although back in the early 1980’s I was fixated on sport instead of food.

The course I’ll be studying is delivered on-line and I’m no stranger to the lonely life of self study having completed my MBA with the Open University in the UK. No doubt the experience will be different as the advances of technology makes collaboration and the multi-media experience so much easier through the Internet.

There is something very potent about making life changing decisions. I see it happen all the time in my work as a leadership coach and it gives me courage to make choices that I might otherwise I’d find hard to make. Slowly but surely my personal and professional interests are coming closer together and I’m excited about the prospects ahead.

The long haul

October 13, 2012

I’ve been having the longest bout of creative constipation in a while. Not inspired to write nor take photographs. This can be a problem if you’re a blogger. Or sheer relief to some depending on your point of view. If the past is anything to go by this is a classic symptom of me being stuck in a comfort zone or overly distracted by other things more interesting or rewarding. I fear that it this time it may be a little bit of both.

The good news though is that I have finally relieved the kitchen garden of it’s winter carpet of weeds, grasses and other infestations, all the result of a hell raising warm and wet winter party. My finger tips and nails may take weeks to heal from hours of scratching and scraping but the reward of seeing the garden ready for planting makes my heart swell. The chickens are deliriously happy too with the spoils of my excavation providing rich peckings for them. The hard yards done I can treat myself with the construction of two new raised beds. A mini extension to the garden for salads and strawberries and place to experiment seed raising on a larger scale.

The kitchen has become less of a battle ground of late with the arrival of a new and rather special baking book. Or I should say books. After weeks of grazing a wealth of gluten free, paleo, no sugar, guilt free and natural food blogs I finally bullet and invested in books that truly cover off the no wheat, low carb, no sugar requirements of our eating regime. So I’ve been knocking out breads, cookies, cupcakes and biscotti that feel like the treats that baking goods are supposed to be. With my baking confidence returning I finally feel that I can start some food blogging again and also feel more optimistic about keeping up with the new lifestyle for the long haul.

I’ve settled my restless mind over recent weeks with a couple of books that I thoroughly recommend for others to read. Wolf Hall and Bring up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel. They really are as good as the hype and publicity. It’s been a long time that I’ve read books with such intricacies and flow that keep you turning the pages. Except in my case I was listening to them both as audio books. We have the real books and in time I shall enjoy them all over again and turning the pages for real. I’ve just started reading The Corrections on my kindle which if is as good as Franzen’s more recent novel Freedom I know I am in for another enjoyable read.

As I looked out of the window seeking an inspired thought for this post the winds are pounding and the rain is pouring again. Spring in New Zealand has acute meteorological schizophrenia. Two days glorious, one day grey and then comes the big hitter with enough misery to drive you indoors and around the fire. And then the cycle starts all over again. Although it happens every year it still feels like an injustice. A good time though to knuckle down and sort the photographs out, do some editing and heaven forbid actually prepare some images for printing. Or I might just curl up with the bassets with a hot mug of tea, a cookie and my book.

For the love of food: take 2

September 12, 2012

Being jet lagged and off eating sugar and wheat are hardly the perfect ingredients for being a delegate at a food bloggers conference but I didn’t let that hold me back. Less than a week arriving home from our UK trip I found myself at the new Le Cordon Bleu School in Wellington at the 2nd NZ Food Bloggers Association Conference. Two days immersed in conversation about food, blogging amongst some of the life affirming individuals you’d want to meet. Once again the Internet and Wellington proved to make the world a small place as friendships made on online or at the Inaugural conference I went to in Auckland last November were renewed, new acquaintances struck up and in my case a pleasant surprise reacquaintance with someone I met working in my first job in NZ six years ago.

The conference was held in the dying hours of Wellington’s annual food festival, Wellington on a Plate, providing a supreme opportunity to experience the best of food in Wellington. The conference maestros Shirleen and Allison pulled out all the stops to bring a fast paced and action packed programme of speakers and workshops. It was exhilarating if exhausting for a jet lagged country girl.

I wasn’t joking about the jet lag. I remember enjoying myself immensely over the two days but for the life of me can’t remember much of the detail after the event. The fact I only took a few photographs is also a testament that I was not on the top of my food blogging game. A frightful admission when reporting on a food blogging conference. Luckily there are an amazing number of detailed conference reports to jog my memory so here’s a round-up of my abiding memories.

Speakers

The charming Jared, author of the Moon over Martinborough blog, captivated us with tales of his journey from blogger to olive oil baron of his 20 acre farm in the Wairarapa. He is a storyteller first and foremost and started his blog as a way of honing his creative writing skills until people started asking where they could buy his olive oil. After much trial, error and a little help from his friends Jared has placed his olive oil in Wellington’s food mecca Moore Wilsons but more importantly for a writer he’s just signed a book deal with Random House to publish is Moon Over Martinborough stories. I’ve enjoyed Jared’s blog for some time now and it was a real pleasure to finally be able to shake his hand and say hello.
Alison Book, Head of Publishing, Harper Collins NZ gave a free and frank account of the challenges of publishing cook books. Although accounting for 50% of the non-fiction sales in New Zealand, there is tough competition and even being a best selling cook book author here in NZ is unlikely to make you neither rich nor terribly famous. The big bucks are through international publishing deals but with a growing number of US and UK food bloggers having what it takes to be a successful food writer there is hope for NZ food bloggers yet.
Lucy Corry, journalist for pay & blogger for fun (The Kitchenmaid), brought insight and humor with her recommended do’s and don’ts for food bloggers. Amongst the forthright views on posting your pet’s photographs on your food blog, Lucy was honest in sharing her experience of reproducing a recipe by Dan Lepard as a note of caution of bloggers who tend to blog about and reproduce recipes without permission.
Sarah Meikle, GM Marketing, Postively Wellington, made me feel proud to be an adopted Wellingtonian. Sarah’s team are behind many of the wildly successful campaigns and events that have made Wellington the Coolest Capital in the World. A passionate advocate of social media it was entertaining and intriguing to get a peak to the behind the scenes thinking on campaigns such as Pop Up Melbourne, and Visa Wellington on a Plate.
Rachel Taulelei, founder of Yellow Brick Road and co-founder of the City Market, educated and inspired us to the ethics of buying sustainable fish. You can’t help be infected by Rachel’s passion for the providence of food. I certainly am thinking more about where we get our fish now and aim to be more adventurous when it comes to eating and cooking fish as a result.
Chris Archer, winemaker and wine consultant, walked us through darwinism for wines. Chris is clearly a bit of a maverick when it comes to the wine industry but has backed his own ideas and ideals in launching a rather light and tasty wine Ritzling or has he describes, “happiness in a bottle”.

Tastings and workshops

The NZ Chocolate Festival gave the conference a sweet start with a demonstration by Juan Balsani, Pastry Chef, Kermedec. He performed magic with chocolate before our very eyes and gave me my first sugar rush in six weeks and all before 0900. We were then guests at the official opening of the festival and treated us to crowd free access to chocolatiers who were so generous with their samples and anxious to share their particular take on chocolate making. The festival organisers surprised all conference delegates before we left the conference with a huge bag of chocolate goodies to take home.
Keeping the chocolate theme alive, Day 2 of the conference started with a chocolate tasting session led by Jo Coffey, L’Affaire au Chocolat. Just like wine tasting we were treated to the different varieties of chocolate with Jo’s expert commentary helping us to experience the full taste of the chocolate. As if I wasn’t bad enough, after Jo’s session I am now a confirmed chocolate snob.
Soda Evangelist, Joseph Slater of Six Barrel Soda Company, allowed the scales to drop from my eyes about real soft drinks. As someone who is a soft drink facist it was wonderful to be able to taste a soft drink made with wholly natural ingredients and lower levels of sugar. I’m tempted to go retro and lash out on a soda stream just to be able to enjoy these sodas in their full glory.
John Van Gorp, was another beverage enthusiast but this time his tipple was tea. T Leaf is a favourite haunt of mine already selling a wide range of teas in Wellington so it was a real pleasure to hear the thinking behind the business and the lengths that they go to bring the best teas into New Zealand. We were spoiled rotten with tastings of NZ Breakfast Tea, Jasmine Dragon Pearl tea and Kawakawa Fire.
The Dumpling Queen, Vicky Ha, showed us her no nonsense way of making dumplings. Dumpling House is a regular favourite at the Wellington City Market and I can see why. Although a comfort food, Vicky creates dumplings that are fully of flavor and sophistication. Although I had to skip the wheat laden dumpling the fillings were delicious.
Little Penang has become an Wellington institution amongst asian loving foodies in less that a year. It’s not hard to see why. They shouted lunch for us on Day 2 after a fascinating demonstration of making traditional sweets. I shall certainly be visiting them for a full blown Little Penang experience soon.
I opted to attend a mini masterclass by NZFBA Founder Alli and Gourmet Gannet to see if I could polish up my cheese making skills. Let’s just say Alli’s skills and knowledge in cheese making means that I shall be making better mozzarella than ever.
It was such a pleasure to see for real (or by Skype at least) Emma of My Darling Lemon Thyme, a kiwi decamped to Perth. I’ve been reading her blog for a while and all the more closely since we changed our eating regime. If you ever wanted to meet a food blogger with passion and ambition it would be Emma. She puts her culinary knowledge and skills to great effect with her style of gluten free and allergy sensitive cooking. I so hope that cook book proposal she is honing is finally picked up for publishing as a testament to the hard yards she has put in to making her blog such a valuable resource and great read.
Kaye from Grow From Here is a prolific micro blogger on twitter and a treasure trove of information about growing food and urban organic gardening specifically. Kaye gave generously of her time and thoughts on how to make growing your own food doable wherever you live and however big your gardening ambitions. Whether it’s a few herbs in a pot or a substantial kitchen garden Kaye was such an inspiration to listen to.

Eating

You won’t be surprise that we were well fed during the course of the conference. Le Cordon Bleu provided pastries, cakes and cheese scones to die for. I drew an exceedingly lucky straw when drawn for a Wellington on a Plate lunch at the Boucott Street Bistro one of Wellington’s finest dining spots in the company of @julieleclercNZ, @eatetclesley and @ohcrumbs . The conference dinner was a pop up dining experience which I have to admit that the food and company was the perfect combination. There was a wealth of goodies provided for us in the conference bags through the generosity of some of my favourite food producers.

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All up the conference was a huge success and enjoyed by all the delegates. A big thumbs up to the organisers and sponsors who really spoilt us rotten and probably more than we really deserved. I shall look forward to cooking with the goodies we were given and blogging about them at a later date. For now, I leave you with a few images from the conference. As I trawled my relatively small pool of photographs I was struck by the passion and dedication of all those who attended, especially the speakers who were refreshingly open and highly entertaining making the conference such a hit. No doubt that the tagline for the conference sums it up perfectly – For the Love of Food.

T Leaf Tasting

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Some of the delicious morsels

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Top Left: Chris Archer – Archer Mcrae | Top right: Jo Coffey, L’Affaire au Chocolat

Bottom Left: Jared Guilan, Moon over Martinborough | Bottom Right: Rachel Taulelei, founder of Yellow Brick Road

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Top Left: Juan Balsani, Pastry Chef, Kermedec | Top Right: NZFBA Founder Alli and Gourmet Gannet

Bottom: NZ Chocolate Festival

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Le Cordon Blue Morning Tea | Chocolate Tastin and Soda Tasting

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Thanks also need to go to the wider contingent of speakers, sponsors and bloggers who made the event such a success.

Speakers

Moon Over Martinborough

Harper Collins

The Kitchen Maid

My Darling Lemon Thyme

Grow from Here

Yellow Brick Road

Archer McRae

Positively Wellington Tourism

Viviane Perényi

Alessandra Zecchini

L’Affaire au Chocolat

Magnifique

August 1, 2012

The first time I heard his characteristically French “oo la la” I was almost suffocating under a mound of coats piled into my arms by VIPs at corporate function. By the time I had dumped the offending garments into the arms of one of my staff and I’d regained my executive composure the moment to chat with Raymond Blanc was gone. I was lucky to exchange pleasantries often enough though as he was a regular guest to the University where I worked but in those days I hardly had time to eat let alone develop an in-depth interest in food.

Watching his documentary The Very Hungry Frenchman earlier this year that I was once again charmed by Raymond Blanc’s enthusiasm and philosophy for simple and flavoursome food. Knowing I’d be back in the UK I vowed to save up enough to visit his flagship restaurant in Oxfordshire to satisfy my curiosity. At the weekend we celebrated 17 years of wedded bliss in the finest style staying at Le Manoir and eating our way through a gourmet dinner in the restaurant that holds 2 Michelin stars. From the personal tour of the manor and our room at the start to finish of our visit when we saw Chef Blanc chatting enthusiastically with the delivery driver of one of his suppliers the whole Le Manoir experience was charming. Friendly staff were attentive to your every wish and extraordinarily knowledgeable about all aspects of the manor, gardens, service and detailed questions about the menu.

It didn’t take me long to wander the acres of gardens which included a lavish kitchen garden, orchard, Japanese garden and mushroom grotto which are carefully tended by 8 gardeners. Although the kitchen garden is 2 acres it supplies only 20% of the restaurant’s fruit and vegetable needs. You can read a fascinating series of articles following the garden through the seasons. I took plenty of mental and visual notes of ideas for our own gardens back home plus a hankering for garden sculptures which added artistic charm and created a few surprises as you meandered around.

Naturally I was little worried about how we might deal with the peculiarities of our new dietary regime but it was clear that with one glance at the menu we would be fine. Nevertheless his Lordship was fed gluten free bread on which to slather the gorgeously creamy butter and similarly tweaked canapes and dessert allowed him to enjoy the full culinary experience. Every course was full of flavour and a wonderful balance of colour and textures. Each course was impressive but not showy, truly classy. I’ve eaten in a range of eateries in my life, including some in London owned by other celebrity chefs, but no doubt Le Manoir takes the prize for the best restaurant eating experience ever.

If you pardon the pun, I’m still digesting the intricacies of the menu. I remember once hearing Raymond Blanc say:

“The good does not interest me. Only the sublime.”

This is a perfect summary for what I experienced at Le Manoir.

No doubt there is something magical going on in deepest Oxfordshire. Le Manoir is certainly a haven for special celebrations and the perfect retreat for people who love food and appreciate the finer things in life. @Lemanoir wins the prize for making me feel extra special with a special twitter friend gift left for me at my dinner table. I look forward to perfecting Maman Blanc’s vegetable soup or Raymond Blanc’s Coq au Vin using my new Raymond Blanc recipe book.