June 2014 Favourites List

Hello everyone!

Here is my June selection of lovely stuff. 

They say that the Summer is "Festival season" and Glastonbury will soon be upon us. But although I love music, and live performances, I really don't see myself as the festival going type. It's a camping phobia which puts the mokkers on it for me. Sleeping in a tent? Chemical toilets? Facing the prospect of not showering for 3 days and smelling of sweat and baby wipes? No, even my favourite acts aren't worth that level of discomfort! And sadly, I am not paid anywhere near enough to contemplate "glamping" at Glastonbury.... (Any rich patrons reading this, if you feel a pang of sympathy and you'd like to fund the whole silver-Jetstream Winnebago and hot shower experience, you will have my lifelong thanks!)

If you are going to a music festival, however, I do wish you the best time. We're all different, and life would be dull if we all liked the same things, right? Rock out and sing along to your favourite songs extra loud, just for me.

This Spring and Summer although I won't be going to any festivals, I have been catching lots of superb live music. So in honour of the season, I am featuring pictures from some of the recent gigs I have been to.

I hope you enjoy the pictures and my collection of links and recommendations. Perhaps you don't have time to go through it all right now, but perhaps you might just come back to dip in and dip out.

Blogs Worth Following:

http://yummytummytales.com/

http://myfoodtapestry.wordpress.com/

Josh Homme, acoustic

Recipes:

Mughal style slow cooker aubergine (eggplant):  http://www.bigflavorstinykitchen.com/2014/05/slow-cooker-mogul-eggplant.html

6 Nations Rugby themed menu by the wonderful Incredible Spicemen - Todiwala and Singh. http://goodthingsmagazine.com/feasting-saints/

From Antonio Carluccio's new pasta book, Curried red mullet linguine, India meets Italy: http://www.deliciousmagazine.co.uk/recipes/linguine-with-curried-red-mullet

Aaloo Palak Paratha (Potato & Spinach Paratha) recipe - on Mamta's Kitchen. (FYI - Mamta's Kitchen is the online cookbook by Mamta, the mum of Kavey (Kavey Eats) Well worth having a browse through - so many brilliant recipes!) http://www.mamtaskitchen.com/recipe_display.php?id=13858

I might just make some of this and try to smuggle it into the cinema – Mark Hix’s chilli popcorn: http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/food-and-drink/recipes/mark-hix-recipe-chilli-popcorn-9419897.html

Another popcorn recipe from Mark Hix, but one for Sunday’s roast chicken leftovers…. http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/food-and-drink/recipes/mark-hix-recipe-chicken-and-rosemary-popcorn-9419894.html

Nigel Slater investigates garlic: Sirloin steak with aubergine, Chilli pesto garlic bread, Roasted garlic mushroom tart and more: http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2014/may/18/nigel-slater-new-season-garlic-recipes

Light vegetarian buckwheat noodle salad: http://food52.com/recipes/21914-spring-soba-noodle-salad-with-fava-beans

A lovely make-ahead packed lunch for work or picnic dish, Rice salad with black beans and sweetcorn: http://www.finedininglovers.com/recipes/main-course/southwestern-rice-salad/

We mere mortals can’t get a table at Chiltern Firehouse for love nor money… So we can cook this Nuno Mendes dish instead and pretend… http://www.telegraph.co.uk/foodanddrink/recipes/10831302/Confit-cod-with-squid-ink-romesco-recipe.html

A mashup of all the best pasta sauces -- tomato, asparagus, and carbonara -- with surprisingly harmonious results. http://food52.com/recipes/22090-craig-claiborne-s-pasta-con-asparagi

Regine and Win, Arcade Fire

Articles/Know How:

Useful and informative for any Indian cooking newbies or curry virgins: www.seriouseats.com/2014/05/indian-spices-101-how-to-work-with-dry-spices.html

A food scientist uses chemistry to tell us how to have the perfect barbequed meat! http://www.vox.com/2014/6/1/5765070/a-food-scientists-4-tips-for-barbecue-success

Inside Claudia Roden's kitchen.... her kids preferred beans on toast to her excellent Mediterranean and Middle Eastern cooking - WTF?! http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2014/may/18/claudia-roden-kitchen-diaries

This week is English wine week. Here are Fiona Beckett's picks of the best... with some surprises! http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2014/may/24/english-wine-week

Damon Albarn

Film:

12 Years A Slave

American Hustle

TV:

Music:

Courtney Barnett

The Black Keys - Turn Blue

Jack White - Lazaretto

Please note: as with every monthly Favourites List, all of these items have been selected by me simply because I love them. I do not receive any money, benefits in kind or other incentive for posting these links or recommendations.