Category: Travel
-
What to eat in the Lake District
A week in the Lake District with my mum meant dedicated missions to find satisfactory tea and cake, mooching around bookshops, swanning across Windermere muffled against the brisk chill, and hunting down old Victorian buildings for my mum’s future Bed and Breakfast venture. It was the holiday to relax, forget about work, the to-do list…
-
A foodie’s long weekend guide to Glasgow
Scotland is not known for its passive people, its mild weather nor its light, easily-digestible cuisine. Eating in Scotland requires a hardy constitution, a refusal to back down and, inevitably, a rise in your cholesterol. The food has nothing to hide, proud in its greasy, rugged state. Sample a taste and you will throw caution to…
-
London calling
In April I moved back to Manchester. Well-accustomed to the drizzle and grey skies this city knows so well, I was apprehensive at first. Four months, dazzling sunshine and a heat-wave later, I can safely say this move was a success. Thanks to a pretty great flatmate, a job I love, many long-awaited catch ups…
-
Rome: A Foodie’s Guide
It was the holiday of dusty feet, freckled skin and greasy fingers licked clean. Relentlessly we marched to and fro across the city, admiring views, monuments and ancient ruins, but, truth be told, we were led by our stomachs (or partially by my delicate, paper-white skin thus shelter was regularly required… usually with a beer…
-
8 Great Restaurants in London
Everyone knows London. It is vast and smoggy, teeming with people. It’s home to the Queen, the Houses of Parliament and red double-decker buses. The underground in rush hour is like a well-oiled machine at full speed – step out of the lines of militant commuters and you will endure violent cussing, with you pressed…
-
Europe 2011: An inter-railing adventure
It was a ‘Gap Year’ style holiday unlike all others. Look no further for sun-kissed beach bodies, drunken out-of-focus photographs of the Full Moon party, fluorescent face paint and sky diving. You won’t find them here. This holiday, my dear reader, took me to Europe for a tour of gastronomy. I think holidays reflect our personalities…
-
Bolognese: Florence III
Last night I stood sweating over the Bolognese in a determined attempt to perfect it without an Italian present. As I gently folded the ragu, allowing steam to billow and steam my face like a meaty sauna, I looked for the creamy consistency Alessio (aka Alex) had taught me, and breathed in to smell the…
-
Quick zabaglione: Florence II
When you think of Italian food you probably don’t automatically fantasise about something sweet. ‘Dolce’ is a word we have absorbed into the English language thanks to Dolcelatte cheese and Dolce & Gabbana yet not for its original meaning. To me the word conjures up images of sorbet, a glass dish of fresh and juicy…
-
An eating excursion: Florence
The distant view of Florence is iconic, its ancient Duomo towering high above the tangle of terracotta. Even through the frozen mist and hesitant snow of midday, which in summer would otherwise have been a pleasant Italian riposo, the view from Piazzale Michelangelo was breath-taking. I have been lucky enough to visit Florence three times in…