Weekly Love: Week 138
I’ve spent the last week at the French house really unplugging from it all. The weather switched from Summer to Autumn, so I got to enjoy all of the things that make the season so lovely in rural Brittany, including long walks in the forest to gather chestnuts, and collecting up the walnuts from beneath the tree in front of our house. I also spent the week shovelling sand and mixing cement! It was a lot of hard work, but we were laying the patio (a mixture of slate and the local stone that was taken out of our massive walls to make more windows in our stone barn) in front of the house, and it is so satisfying to know I was a part of creating it.
1. Greeting the locals in Brittany. | 2. The other weekend I headed to Trafalgar Square with my friend Natasha and her photographer/ boyfriend Callum for a Malaysian cooking class with Norman Musa ahead of Malaysia night. We cooked up a storm of delicious food, and it was such a great entry to Malaysian food for me; look out for a Quick Malaysian Salmon Curry I have planned for one of my columns soon! For more photos, head over to Natasha’s post. | 3. Traditional Breton savoury Galette made with buckwheat flour stuffed with creamy leeks and scallops at my favourite local in Combourg. | 4. A divine Laksa Natasha ordered for me at Malaysia Night. | 5. Gathering chestnuts in the forest. No idea what I’m going to make with them though, recipes and suggestions would be greatly appreciated; I have 2 kilos! | 6. Picking up prawns at the French fish counter. Just look at the size of those whoppers!
- How to support the bloggers you love. (via Amy, who is a blogger I love!)
- Autumn bakers outside of the USA? This is how you make your own Pumpkin Spice.
- Sydney? Sophie has found you the perfect place to grab a takeaway pizza. Also, as I’m too far away can you please go have a Japanese hot dog for me at Chanoma Cafe.
- The TIG has posted a brilliant looking insiders guide to Washington D.C. They’ve also put one together (that also looks fabulous) for Chicago.
- Witness the building of the most epic crostini station you’ve ever seen.
- Brandy Melville’s low key, social media heavy marketing strategy is genius.
- The Kitchn has put together a brilliant and handy guide to pretty much every spice or herb you’ll find in your kitchen cupboard. I’m not even joking, all of them!
- Refinery 29 has put together a guide to L.A.’s best cheap eats. I can 100% endorse 800 Degrees pizza. I used to live a block away from their Westwood branch and it was a regular favourite!
- Tess has written about Ristorante L’Arco Dei Cappuccini in Sicily, such stunning seafood.
- An interview with the new editor at NYLON, the magazine of my teens on its changing brand.
- I love why this San Francisco restaurant wants to be the worst rated on Yelp in the bay.
- I’m not usually one to look through other peoples wedding photos online (unless they’re shot by my super talented West Coast BFF Nikki), but Sophie’s wedding looks so beautiful.
- Do fashion bloggers make more money than fashion editors?
- If you live in, or you’re visiting Paris, this is where you need to go for Dim Sum.
- This tip on how to make your mussels plumper before cooking is genius.
A few more of my recipes from around the web, I just wanted to draw your attention to my new column I’m writing for the new education, student and graduate site WOZEDU. While I will still be posting the odd student recipe over here, it is the new home of my ‘Student Suppers‘ column where, weekly, I’ll be posting quick, cheap and easy student recipes. Be sure to head over there now for my Warm Honey-Mustard Chicken Pasta Salad and ‘The Only Curry Recipe You’ll Ever Need‘. I can’t wait to share the other recipes planned!
7. We seem to have done very well growing pumpkins this year! The one in the back on the left, is big enough to fit a small child inside! | 8. The simply delicious breakfast Roti Canai and Chicken Curry we made at the Malaysian cooking class. | 9. Curling up on a rainy day in France with a cup of berry tea, my favourite French food magazine, and Hotel Chocolat’s new #supermilk chocolate. It is their new bar which has less sugar than dark chocolate and with a splash of milk, that makes it something in between. You only need a little to satisfy chocolate cravings, and it is unlike any chocolate I’d had before. | 10. Picking out treats at the patisserie. | 11. Prawns in Orange, Tomato and Cardamom from the Honey & Co. cookbook. Full recipe and book review to follow on Monday! | 12. Roasted duck legs with rosemary roast potatoes from Claudia Roden’s Food Of Italy for Sunday roast.
- Leeds? Amy has put together a food map of all her favourite local eateries.
- A restaurant that sells exclusively tinned fish is not as crazy as it seems.
- A Beautiful Mess schools us in how to make an awesome distressed wood backdrop for food photography. I feel this is a project I need to do soon, because I still don’t have enough!
- 10 Words To Know When Buying White Wine.
- Los Angeles? It looks like you need to go and try the ice cream at Salt & Straw.
- New Orleans? My girl Joy The Baker has you sorted with a bakery guide of the city.
- Flavour First sits down with one of my favourite (and one of the first I ever read) restaurant bloggers Zeren Wilson from Bitten & Written.
- Into The Gloss’ introduction the the Chinese Pharmacy is fascinating.
- The Roaming Kitchen has put together a fantastic Maine food and travel guide.
- How Shonda Rhimes is taking over Prime-Time TV.
- How to scale and gut a fish (it is not as hard as it sounds!)
- Beijos Events planned the perfect day out in Newport Beach for The Glitter Guide.
- 10 spiced used in Indian cooking you probably have not heard of (I’ve used 3)
- A beginners guide to shopping sample sales.
- So, you want to be a Fashion PR?
What have you been enjoying this week, and what do you have planned for the weekend? I’m going to catch up with everything that I did not do when I had my week off, as I have a busy week ahead of travel, meetings and London adventures!
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