One of the first cookbooks I bought after moving to London was Jamie Oliver’s Jamie at Home. The premise is homegrown food, eating with the seasons and calls for a lot of outdoor cooking. Not very useful for where I was living at the time (or even now) which was in a serviced apartment that was essentially a hotel, completely lacking any kind of “garden” or space to set up a barbecue.

I initially tried a couple recipes but set the book aside for the better part of two years, until this year, when I really embraced cooking again. I realised a lot of the grill recipes could be replicated by using a grill pan on the hob (stove). There are also a lot of roasts in the cookbook which are really easy to make in any urban oven!

There are an annoying amount of photographs featuring Jamie Oliver which, I suppose is part of the “brand”. Not my bag, personally, but okay.

If you are a vegetarian or vegan, I may steer you away from this book as there are several “Source your own protein!” photographs, as well. Oh, look…that’s nice. Still, images of industrialized animal slaughter wouldn’t evoke the English countryside in the same romantic, dramatic way so, I get it.

Overall, some amazing recipes in here, particularly the Herb Salad Bruschetta and the Lamb Kofka. The Grilled Strawberries with Pimm’s is next on my list. Summer is in full swing here and there are some amazing English strawberries (Driscoll’s “Jubilee” variety) out at the moment. The book is also just really nice in terms of paper and print quality. No dust jacket, either, which is great because I always feel guilty about ditching dust jackets for some reason.

Is it possible? Check out this “bowl scraper”, with American to metric conversions printed on one side, oven temperature conversions on the other.

This bowl scraper covers more surface area than a wide spatula, so I think I’m a convert. I do have to admit the fact that it is pink and includes measurement conversions is what sold me on it. No more stopping in the middle of cooking to check conversions online or “dividing in half but adding a little bit extra”.

For more info and tips on cooking, see: Eat > Cooking

Taken at Greenwich Park, April 2010

Greenwich Park is quickly becoming one of my favourites in London. Since it’s further out from the city centre, it is less crowded. There are mostly people picnicking with their families and pets so it’s very relaxed. It’s also near Greenwich Market which is a cool place to get fresh food, ice creams or a beer.