Category: Summer

  • French recipe: Ratatouille Without Aubergine

    French recipe: Ratatouille Without Aubergine

    I hate to admit it, but the Paris portrayed in movies is magical. It’s called the City of Light for a reason, and I don’t know who could leave unaffected by the Eiffel Tower lighting up like a glittering beacon over the city. Well, Gaylord, to be honest. He is Parisian. I don’t think those…

  • French recipe: Peach Mille Feuille

    French recipe: Peach Mille Feuille

    If I could be a fruit, I would like to cast my vote to be a peach. There may be a lot of us peaches jostling in the fruit bowl. There is a reason this blog’s logo is a peach – it’s a little cheeky (the peach emoji connotations have a lot to answer for).…

  • Cheat’s Ice Cream Sandwich Ideas

    Cheat’s Ice Cream Sandwich Ideas

    Ice cream never struck me as a satisfying dessert – it’s the snack you eat in a cone by the beach, not the exclamation mark to end a meal. (If you disagree, I will see you outside aka the comments section.) But, let me just clarify. The act of squishing said ice cream between two…

  • French recipe: Peach and Apricot Clafoutis

    French recipe: Peach and Apricot Clafoutis

    Summer: it’s the season to brave the heaving weekend markets, jostling old biddies with their shopping carts. It’s the time to drink iced coffee in the morning, and share a sliced peach so juicy you need some paper towel on hand. It’s the smell of the mosquito spirals burning, their smoke blowing through your window.…

  • Summer Roulade with Raspberries, Strawberries and Basil: Easy Elevenses Recipe

    Summer Roulade with Raspberries, Strawberries and Basil: Easy Elevenses Recipe

    My boyfriend is called Gaylord. He was named after a character in a book, apparently a rambunctious little boy. When we met (one day, I will tell you that story as it’s a good one), I assumed he was joking when he introduced himself. Now, I don’t hear the name as it is his. He…

  • Easy Cherry and Almond Galette

    Easy Cherry and Almond Galette

    Cherry season in Toulouse is early – one year I missed it entirely as it just kind of creeps in, slips onto supermarket fruit and veg shelves in the dead of night, then before you know it, they’ve been there for weeks coolly filing their nails and concealing yawns. I’m sorry guys, you’re just annoyingly…

  • Halloumi and Blistered Tomato Panzanella

    Halloumi and Blistered Tomato Panzanella

    This week, I’ve been back in the UK. There was my friend’s joyously happy wedding day and I was very grateful I’d found an unopened waterproof eyeliner in my make up bag because woah turned out I needed it – the sniffles from me and my friends during the speeches could have been harmonised. Then,…

  • The Perfect Eton Mess with Strawberries and Raspberries

    The Perfect Eton Mess with Strawberries and Raspberries

    Finally the French windows are throw open, the laundry is hanging up outside and fluttering in the breeze and I feel like I’m in a washing detergent advert at last. Even doing the laundry is better in the summer. Roland Garros is on the TV, not that I’m watching, my desk is conveniently angled in…

  • Bircher Muesli with Peach and Peanut Butter

    Bircher Muesli with Peach and Peanut Butter

    Sometimes – sometimes – I like a healthy start to the day. I’m not going to sit here and pretend to you that I eat oats, avocado or cottage cheese for breakfast every day, no one is that perfect, and also those devilish pain au chocolat, you know, exist. But, really what could be easier…

  • Crab Linguine with Tomato and White Wine

    Crab Linguine with Tomato and White Wine

    Toulouse is an unusual beast. It proudly displays its terracotta buildings as a badge of honour that declares it belongs in the Mediterranean. I mean, you won’t spot any buildings that glow in the sun in wet and windy Wales for instance. So, you come to Toulouse, bedazzled and seduced. And yet now, this city…