Category: Breakfast
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Apple, maple and thyme porridge
Is there such a thing as a French breakfast? In many ways, France is considered to be THE country of sophistication – think long thin cigarettes (back when they were cool though), black turtlenecks (yesterday, at least three of us rocked one and, interestingly, I was the only female), and a glass of wine in…
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Fig and thyme jam
October seems to be the perfect month for me to make jam. Last year I filled some mini jars with bramble jam – mini purely because of the blackberry curse that haunts me – and although that is literally when the tradition started, I would like to it continue. This year it’s time to celebrate…
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Rice pudding pancakes
At the beginning of this little hiccup known as Covid, panic descended on the world’s population and people stormed the supermarkets. A natural instinct, sure, although I still can’t understand the toilet roll wipe-out but that’s for another day. In the general rush of stockpiling, everyone went mad for tinned goods, just in case we…
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Bacon and marmalade sandwich
Christmas Eve is the sparkly magical wait before the big event. And it’s the perfect excuse for a bacon and marmalade sandwich. Mince pies are being defrosted and dredged in snowy icing sugar, we bundle up in coats and gloves and hats and march around the local countryside for a walk, and the radio serenades…
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Hazelnut butter
It’s good and familiar to be near a lovingly-stocked kitchen. The cupboards are full of jars and spices and pastes, all the accoutrements that take time to collect. In our new kitchen in Toulouse, our cupboards don’t even have an order, unless you call ‘wherever you can find space, that’s where it goes’ order. The…
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French cooking: Crêpes
As I predicted, moving abroad has its hurdles. I write this still awaiting my SIM card and with no bank account, not for the lack of trying. Administration in France is not easy at the best of times but add a pandemic and doors start gently closing with a perfunctory, ‘Désolé!’ Unlike French bureaucracy, that…
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The 4 Best Sweet Breakfasts
November in Toulouse is not nearly as austere as other parts of the northern hemisphere during late autumn. The sun glitters through next door’s hedge, the sky is a spotless azure (most of the time), the leaves are gently turning from green to red, and, in fact, it’s colder inside than out due to a…
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The 4 best savoury breakfasts
A girl doesn’t ask for much. It would just be wonderful if: I am coming to terms with the fact that three points on this list are impossible (although I’m taking some comfort in wishing my hair to miraculously change as I sleep). Breakfast, though, is easy. To start, I need to discover what makes…
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Bramble and bay jam
I love jam. That may not be a mystery. My friend Hannah can testify. When we lived together I had a collection of seven jams in the fridge. One for each day of the week you could say. Looking back, I admit it was excessive. Jam on toast, jam on scones, jam on my face,…
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Panettone with Christmas cake ice cream
Oh the weather outside is frightfulBut the fire is so delightfulAnd since we’ve no place to goLet it snow, let it snow, let it snow Said no one in Wellington ever. This is what I’m having to put up with. For a summery, sunny city, however, there are surprising number of wintery scenes. Christmas cards…