Edward Barrow
@ejoftheweb
Part-time Londoner: woke liberal socialist, empiricist. Likes food, dancing, gardening, interested in politics, economics, environment. Likely to block bigots and denialists of any stripe; will block crypto bros etc. Signal: ejoftheweb-57
🍽️ classics are classic for a reason and I can't think of a better hot-weather lunch dish than a salade niçoise when the tomatoes are in season...🍽️
At this time of year the colours of the crops in the landscape change rapidly. The garish rape is over and ephemerally blue flax looks soft against the pale sage green of the ripening wheat. There seems to be a lot more flax planted this year. It's grown for both fibre and oil.
Trip to Arras to try to sort out wife's titre de séjour. Probably a waste of effort but an excellent lunch at le Tableau restaurant valait le voyage
Lots of these hawthorns with pink blossom as street trees in Lambeth, looking great right now. The white may is almost over though.
It's not English, because we're in France, but it is green, fresh, local and delicious. Later in the season we may have hollandaise, but for the first ones, just melted butter...
A big bunch of Communist Party flags at the Together march. FFS. Don't they remember anything? ofc not. far too young. Idiots.
🍽️ Pancake day is Shrove Tuesday in Britain, and Candlemas (Chandeleur) en France. So we've had crêpes Suzette twice in two weeks. Today, we first had chicken and mushroom stuffed crêpes au gratin, but ate them before taking a pic....🍽️
Not currently in a position to wander into town for a burger: grilled steak haché, one with Maroilles, endive, bacon and mushroom, one with mâche and tomato. Frites maison.
🍽️ Cold wet windy day calls for comfort food: this is macaroni ch'teese, or Mac au Maroilles, ready for the oven... 🍽️ Maroilles is a super-stinky cheese popular here in N France 'chez les Ch'tis'.
31st December 2025, M&S Brixton. Cherries. Does air-freighted from Chile count as in season?
The very last of this year's tomatoes. And basil from the pot on the kitchen doorstep.
🍽️Leek Tatin🍽️ sections of leek, browned on their ends in butter, allowed to cool, topped with cheese and all-butter puff pastry from the supermarket, baked, inverted. Was very nice, all gone now...
🍽️ Today's jam: red gooseberries picked this morning, cooked to 104°C with 70% sugar-raw fruit ratio, taste-test on fromage blanc. Colour great, beautifully sharp, refreshing dessert. 🍽️
A field of flax up our lane being cut. It will lie in the field for months before being collected to be processed into fibre for linen. 75% of the world's linen is grown in Northern France. Love that my favourite summer fabric is so local to me.
A self-sown wild cherry tree in the garden is making decent sized cherries, and it's close enough to the house to deter the birds from taking them all
@stuartbourne.bsky.social operation recover the secret rose-garden from two years of neglect continues. Still waiting for some of the bower roses to bloom. The hedge at the back needs serious surgery to give more light, but that will have to wait until nesting is over.
🍽️ and considerably more lime peel achar than we need: time to find something else to do with squeezed limes.... 🍽️
🍽️Restocking the larder with almost-instant desserts for the winter (just add custard, fromage blanc or crème fraîche): gooseberries and rhubarb the start of the season that will end in November with the last of the apples. 🍽️
🍽️ Garden produce for lunch today: new potatoes, broad beans, a tiny courgette, garlic greens, tomatoes and basil. All picked this morning - a hopeful harbinger of many more summer lunches. Butter, salt and pepper not home-grown. 🍽️
@realseeds.co.uk First tomato of the year - and outdoors too! (ten days after planting out). I'm sure you can guess the variety! (Walnut for scale)
Like this "Wild Edric", which beat every other rose into flower this year, even 2//n
I know they're now considered an invasive weed - but R.rugosa hedges are unbeatable. Everything you want in a rose: a scent so powerful and the ephemeral beauty of the flowers all summer long. Its genes are in many commercial roses, 1/ #gardening #roses
🍽️Neighbour gave us two goose eggs. Can confirm that one goose egg is the same as three small hen's eggs. We had them scrambled for breakfast.🍽️
🍽️ Practice makes perfect, and there are some things I only get to practise once a year, like hot cross buns - but these seem to have come out pretty well. 🍽️
Mine is much more of a mess after a year of total neglect but I did rebuild the rustic rose bower. Prickly work. It should look, smell and sound much better in a couple of months.
🍽️ Lunch today is leek and chicken pie with mash. Leeks were €3 for a huge 3kg bunch in the market yesterday. 🍽️