A healthy but perky January dish: Oven-steamed Asian sea bass

January is universally acknowledged as the month of detox. Gyms burst at the seams with enthusiastic new joiners determined to stick to their new year’s resolution… this time. Community centres across the country swell with the weight of weight watchers. Just yesterday, in search of a healthy sushi lunch, I was turned away from Yo Sushi due to an inordinately long queue. Call it what you will. Detoxing. Dieting. Getting fit. Yes, everyone’s at it folks. And I’m afraid I’m including myself in that number. For me, however, it’s slightly more epic. You see, I have done absolutely no exercise in the nigh-on nine months since Finn was born. Combine this with the fact that I seem to have continued to eat as if I’m feeding two, you have one mighty miss feedetgastro. Something needs to be done. And fast.

A Green & Black’s Christmas

Now that I’m a sleep-deprived-up-at-dawn-don’t-stop-all-day-collapse-at-nine-member-of-the-buggy-brigade I don’t often have the energy to haul my arse up to London on an evening out, but when I received an invitation to Green & Black’s Christmas Supperclub, I knew I had to dust off my glad-rags and get myself there. For one, it’s Green & Black’s and the thought did occur to me that every course might be wholly made up of chocolate (an idea that made my inner child whoop and squeal with delight). Secondly, Green & Black’s events have in the past been fantastic (remember the 15:15 challenge?) and I definitely didn’t want to miss out on another great evening.

F&G’s favourite never fail pastas #1: Spaghetti alla puttanesca

I think by now my regular readers will have gathered that I’m a complete and utter Italiaphile. I love the country, the people (my grandma being one of them), and most of all the food. Despite it’s no doubt devastating effect on my (ever-growing) waistline, I have pasta two or three times a week and, as with most people I’m sure, I have my favourites that never fail to delight and satisfy in equal measure. Most are ready within 20 minutes – surely one of the major perks of pasta – and all are delicious.

Dark chocolate and blackberry muffins

I don’t know about you, but for me the idea of being a mum has always been synonymous with images of angelic flour-splattered children standing on chairs in the kitchen next to an apron-clad serene-looking woman, joyfully stirring cake mixture before licking the spoon. Well, Finn is too young to help out at the moment and I am anything but serene, but I’ve been working on getting my bake-on. For me, mum’s bake. And to date, I’ve been a miserable failure on that front. So, time to rectify…

I made this (or what I’ve been doing for the last 3 months)

Forgive me blogosphere for I have sinned. It has been over 3 months since my last post. My poor blog has been shockingly neglected and bereft of attention, but you see I’ve been rather busy. Since we last spoke I made this. “This” is Finn. He is 12 weeks and 5 days old. He takes up a LOT of time.

BOOK REVIEW: British Seasonal Food by Mark Hix

I have literally dozens of cookbooks, and their usual fate is to sit forlornly on the shelf only to be taken down and flicked through once or twice a year when I’m really stuck for an idea (though this should not be revealed to my husband who already suspects this to be the case and is beginning to forbid me to buy any more – horror). There are however a few exceptions; books that are dog-eared and food splattered from constant and varied use. These books are as indispensable to me as my Le Creuset casserole or my favourite knife. And I have a sneaking suspicion that British Seasonal Food by Mark Hix is going to become one of these oft-opened books, always at hand to provide me with some interesting and more importantly seasonal inspiration. In the mere weeks it has been on my shelf it has already been taken down, and even cooked out of, way over its allotted number of times.

F&G Bitesized: Afternoon tea and a chance to win a night of luxury at The Thistle, Brighton

Now I know things have been rather slow at F&G towers of late, but that’s not to say that I haven’t been cooking and eating as fervently as ever. If you could only see my dizzyingly long “to blog” list your mind would boggle at how such a very pregnant lady could possibly squeeze so much into an already over-capacity tummy. Well, I’m eating for two innit? And eating is easy enough… what is harder is to fight through the brain fog that seems to have descended in these last few weeks. But I’m still thinking about you readers and if I can’t give you my usual sharp wit and banter (ahem!) then the least I can do is to offer you the chance to come and experience my lovely Brighton for yourselves, courtesy of The Thistle in Brighton.

Pancake {insert day here}: Lemon ricotta pancakes with lemon curd

If I was an organised type of a person I might have posted this recipe prior to last Tuesday so you could actually enjoy it on that long-looked-for annual event, Pancake Tuesday. Well, if I was an organised type of a person I might have even made this on Pancake day itself. But if you haven’t realised by now, I am definitely not an organised type of a person even at the best of times. It turns out that at 8 and 1/2 months pregnant I am a dishevelled and discombobulated mess. As such I didn’t get myself together to make these beauties on Tuesday last (I think I was probably napping at the time), so we ended up having a Pancake Wednesday instead. But, you know what? Pancakes are damn good on any day, so I give you leave to make these on any which day you like. The ricotta along with a hint of lemon zest adds a delicious twist to the American style batter, whilst the smatter of raspberries and very British lemon curd make for the perfect combination.

F&G Eats Sussex: The Curlew, Bodiam

Very occasionally, if you’re very very lucky, you go for a meal that is so special that you forget all your cynicism and critiquing (not that I’m particularly predisposed to either, rarely eating out and even more rarely reviewing restaurants) and just sit back and enjoy the ride. So The Curlew has just won a Michelin star. So what? What is more important is that the food is honest, the staff friendly, the atmosphere relaxed and unpretentious and when you’ve eagerly devoured the final crumby morsels from your last plate, you leave feeling you genuinely may have just had one of the nicest meals of your life.

Frugal February Giveaway: Douwe Egberts Aromettes and £100 Tesco Vouchers

A strong reviving coffee is a must at so many junctures in life: first thing in the morning, when your eyelids are still stubbornly clinging to sleep; mid-afternoon at the office when the 3pm slump has well and truly set in; and late at night when you’ve got a deadline looming and you just don’t think you’ve got it in you to see. it. through. So anything that makes brewing the crucial cup of energising coffee just as quick and easy as possible is a-ok with me. Tomorrow Douwe Egberts launch their new product, “Aromettes”,  which removes the measuring and spoon from the equation.