Raspberry pancakes

Last night Jen and I went out on a date - Dinner at a lovely little family owned french restaurant (Savoir faire) - highly recommended, have the punchy mussels in pernod and garlic butter followed by the melt in the mouth boeuf bourguignon, both served with a perfect french accent. We followed a great (and good value) meal with fancy cocktails at the lobby bar in One Aldwych. A rare treat.

It was a great night out and the perfect way to finish a stressful week.

Hungover photography, not the best I know...

Anyhoo, yesterday I woke up feeling a bit bleary and keen for some breakfast (in my defence, the raspberries in the cocktails were very alcoholic). Alas, no bread, quelle catastrophe! I wasn't in the mood for getting sufficiently dressed to brave the glacial morning on a shopping trip, nor was I capable of waiting three hours or so for home made. Fortunately we had sufficient ingredients for pancakes - pretty much just store cupboard stuff. The recipe is borrowed from Rachel, a fellow foodie of the highest calibre.

Blue Monday

Monday was not a good day. It was a stellar cocktail of pouring rain, less than waterproof shoes, missed driving tests, subsequent tears and rage at the instructor who overslept, tense meetings at work and a general feeling that both Christmas and Spring are about a million miles away.

Yuck.

A Glass Of Something Smoky

My lovely aunt and uncle gave us the first series of MadMen for Christmas and we're now totally hooked. It's beautifully done - very witty and very sexy. It reminds me of a line in a song by croaky-voiced 60s chanteuse, Melanie, who my dad always loved and, as a kid, I always hated ... 'The Madison Avenue pink dream makers'... a brilliant line, and one that has been stuck in my head since we watched the first episode.

It also makes me want to take up smoking, using a spindly thin cigarette holder, and exhaling languidly with a pointedly raised eyebrow, and have a cut glass decanter filled with whisky sitting nonchalantly on the corner of my desk at work (and in fact on the corner of any table I happen to be passing by).

The smoking thing I shall quash. The whisky thing on the other hand ...

Happy New Year!!!

Happy New Year everyone! It's quite exciting to think that our blog now transcends two calendar years.

On the first day of a New Year, I find (as I suspect most people do) that thoughts turn towards hopes and aspirations for the year ahead. Here are a few of ours, if you'd like to share your own, it would be great to hear your food related ambitions!