Travel
The UK
In the ‘Telegraph’ there’s a useful list of 50 small British hotels for less than £150 a night. I have faith in the list as I have stayed in the excellent Yard at Bath and Dorset House in Lyme Regis which are both mentioned and have eaten at others, including the Double Red Duke, the Lamb Inn and the Swan Inn in the Cotswolds. In the comments, people say that some of them cost more at weekends and in the summer. Now I want to go to Weeke Barton in Devon, the Alice Hawthorn Inn in North Yorkshire and Kylesku in Scotland.
The Times mentioned a fantastic sounding curry take away, Black Rock at Inverinan on Loch Awe in Scotland.
In the ‘Daily Mail’, they visited the Hand at Llanarmon, a hotel in the Berwyn Mountains where I have walked before. It’s so quiet compared with hectic Snowdonia, where last November, we had to queue to get onto the summit of Snowdon.
House and Garden had a list of unusual gardens to visit, definitely not the normal suspects, including Trentham in Staffordshire which is good in the winter and not far off the M6, the Millennium Garden at Pensthorpe, Norfolk which has a Piet Oudolg Garden worth visiting in Autumn and Mapperton in Dorset which is one of my favourites.
Europe
Cézanne has always been one of my favourite artists as he was the subject of the first art exhibition that I ever saw at the Jeu de Paume in Paris. In the Times, Paul Newsom went to Aix-en-Provence, his birthplace and had a trip to the Bibémus quarries, which I didn’t know that you could visit. There’s going to be a retrospective of Cezanne’s work at Tate Modern from October 5.
The Telegraph also had an updated travel guide to Paris.
The Guardian cited five different countries you might want to visit, instead Italy, Spain and Greece , Kosovo, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Slovenia and North Macedonia.
Restaurants
The FT had a guide to eating along the Regent’s Canal in London, worth keeping of reference if you are going to do a walk in this area.
In the Guardian, Grace Dent goes to Amethyst in Mayfair, London which is expensive but she thought would be on the list of the best restaurants in the UK>
In the Independent, Emma Henderson took two ferries to the Isle of Gigha, to eat at the Seafood Restaurant which I am noting for when I do my long-planned Scottish seafood road trip. My idea of heaven.
In the Mail on Sunday, Tom Parker-Bowles went to Richoux in Piccadilly, London, which he found civilised and good value
In the ‘Observer’, Jay Rayner appreciated the food at Sohaila in Shoreditch, London, a restaurant run as a social enterprise which he thought should be a success.
In ‘the Times’, Giles Coren went to the Princess Royal pub in Westbourne Grove, London where Ben Tish is now in the kitchen. He liked it, especially the outdoor space and the friendly staff
In the Standard, David Ellis visits Manga Banga in Lissom Grove, London, an izakaya or Japanese themed pub and Manga themed like the name.
In the Sunday Times, Marina O’Loughlin ate at the Tamil Prince in Islington
In the Telegraph, for the sake of completeness, William Sitwell went to Jeremy Clarkson’s Diddly Squat in the Cotswolds but as it’s booked out this year and may just exist at the moment, for the TV programme, I’m not going to link to it.
Recipes
Similar to last week, there’s an emphasis on seasonal stone fruits again this week with Ottolenghi’s recipes for grilled apricot, honey and goat’s cheese dip, which is now on my list to make as it looks like a great starter. Quick chutneys seem the thing to do after Nigel Slater’s chilli plum jam last week, this time it’s a peach chutney to go with lamb and cumin oil and roast tenderstem broccoli with cherry and ancho ezme. There was more on apricots in the Independent .
In the continuing hot weather, there’s also an emphasis on barbecues and picnics with barbecue recipes from the expert Genevieve Taylor and Rowley Leigh’ picnic ideas . In the same summer vein, Nigel Slater gave recipes for a cucumber, avocado and basil tabbouleh, (pictured above) and a honey pannacotta.
And finally, Benjamin Ebuehi has the most gorgeous looking recipe for a strawberry lemon mint cake which would make a great celebration cake
Books
From Sophie Ellis Bextor’s book, ‘Love Food Family: Recipes from the Kitchen Disco’ , there are some recipes on family friendly barbecues.
From Ella Mills’ book, How To Go Plant-Based, there are some recipes, including a garlicky roasted aubergine ragu and minty pea dip.
From José Pizarro’s book, ‘The Spanish Home Kitchen: Simple, Seasonal Recipes and Memories from My Home’ there are some recipes including zorongollo, a tapas with red peppers, tomato and hard-boiled egg on charred bread.