Green vegetables; the good, the bad and the ugly

Gosh I’m writing a lot for my client. It’s enjoyable and stimulating but It kinda stalls my enthusiasm for blogging a little bit. But I became a little bit enthused as I was just reading this book my daughter bought me for Fathers’s Day entitled ‘New Yorkers, A City and Its People In Our Time’. It is brilliant. It’s about a Canadian guy who spent time in an English village, then in London before moving to NYC and recording hundreds of conversations with the locals about their views on their ‘town’. Subsequently writing them up and drawing some conclusions. It takes him years and it’s a real opus. I am very tempted to give up everything and produce a book like his. So inspired by his work I thought I’d write a blog post about vegetables. When inspiration hits….

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cooking for men (wddc): another great pasta dish

It’s been a day when I’ve been thinking about Italy a little wistfully. Firstly the weather seems to have really turned here in the UK. We got up early as ever this morning and it felt like winter as we crept downstairs. So the ‘on’ button for the central heating was pressed into action. I was still shivering when I clicked my laptop into life to find a message from our good friend Matt in Italy telling us that the weather was still pretty great out there and that our pool, which he’s looking after for us, is still in mint condition. Sigh. Then earlier some of our recent guests over in Italy popped round to show us some of their photos from their stay at our place – mostly beautiful daybreaks and sunsets. More sighs. Catching my mood I sense, C came up with a lovely pasta dish for dinner which is simple and quick and really tasty. And a perfect dish for those of us who think they can’t cook but would really like to. Grab a glass of your favourite tipple fellahs and get in that kitchen.

cooking for men (wddc): gnocchi on the oche

The first posting on cooking for men who don’t do cooking, for ages and ages.  It’s based on what used to be my least favourite pasta, the rather filling gnocchi, and it includes three varieties of cheese (one mild, one smelly, one salty), plus unloved spinach and some prosciutto. It sounds totally unpromising but this is my wife’s signature dish and trust me fellahs it’s simple to cook and if your guests are hungry and kind of have a hankering for things that look and taste utterly Italian, they’ll love it…and you. So fill up a glass of cool wine whilst I take you through the ingredients.