Weekly Love: Week 204 + Ping Coombes’ Brunch Club

Let’s talk all things Student Eats! Yours truly has been around and about talking about the book, so if you fancy checking out my visit to the BBC London studio last week you can listen to me talk about how I took inspiration from my parents for some of the recipes in the book from the 01:08 mark. If sitting down with a long read and a cup of tea is your thing, I sat down with Study.EU to talk about my favourite recipes in the book and what it was like to study abroad in California. They’re also giving away 10 (!) copies of the book over on their Facebook page. Finally, if you fancy getting into the kitchen The Happy Foodie have shared two of my favourite recipes from the book: my Banana & Nutella Muffins and my Pea, Prawn & Mushroom Egg Fried Rice!

1. Celebrating the publication of Student Eats with my parents at Duck & Waffle – look out for more pictures from our meal next week! | 2. An incredible Surf ‘n’ Turf and carafe of Malbec at The Butlers Wharf Chop House. | 3. Student Eats in the window of Daunt Books. | 4. Stunning, golden hour view of Tower Bridge from the terrace at The Butlers Wharf Chop House. | 5. Pink frozen champagne ice lollies from Fortnum’s. | 6. Stunning flowers in my favourite colours as a publication gift from the Ebury team.

• Glossier did a London pop-up, I missed it, and I’m so gutted.
• This is how to choose the best watermelon at the farmers market or grocery store.
• The Man Repeller on what it means to be a social media ‘influencer’. 
• Emiko’s tips for staying cool in an Italian heatwave are pretty much applicable anywhere.
• Julia stayed in the most idilic villa on the French Riviera. Also her Nantucket trip looks totally dreamy and has me hankering after some sort of beach. (Part 2)
• I’m slightly in love with Pinch of Yum’s new office space – being able to build a blog/ website into a business with its own physical space and team is a total dream of mine.
• Sarah shares some of the story behind her and her husband’s brilliant ‘Made In America’ brand Kiel James Patrick as they open their first flagship store. 
• These are the five different styles of vase you need to display any bunch of flowers.
• Lucy went to Geneva, and as ever she managed to find the colour in everything. Also, if you visit, the cycling vineyard tour she went on looks like an excellent idea.
• I’m terrible at styling my own hair, but I really want to try Rose’s easy summer tutorial. Also, I want to visit Sicily so that I can enjoy this delicious supper of pasta and seafood she enjoyed. 
• Kristabel, on how to visit Copenhagen on a budget. 

7. Taking over The Happy Foodie Instagram feed to celebrate the publication of Student Eats. | 8. We were roommates when we were 14 at boarding school, together again at my book launch! | 9. Baked Eggs with Black Pudding, Sautéed Potatoes and Caramelised Onions – find my recipe here! | 10. Beautiful orange roses outside Angel Tube Station. | 11. Utterly in love with Cadbury’s new Dairy Milk Tiffin. | 12. Incredible view of The Gherkin from Duck & Waffle up on the 40th floor.

• Now The Happy Foodie team have cooked from the book I really want a copy of Nadiya’s British Food Adventure. (Her first cookbook was truly excellent!)
• Emily Paster on the nuances of Jewish preserving.
• America? Here is the difference between the 5 different types of oyster you can buy Stateside.
• You need to read Abigail’s piece on the 7 things she learnt from being in a car accident.
• Dana made sashimi from Cosco salmon and now I want to make supermarkets sashimi too.
• Olivia has gone to St. Ives, and now I want to go to Cornwall. And look at her Penzance post!
• The Oyster Box Hotel in Durban looks incredible. 
• This piece on the Mall of America doubles as a fascinating history of the shopping mall.
• Yaya and Lloyd have listed 12 great free things to do in Los Angeles, some of which I’ve never even done/ I never really knew about! Also they’ve rounded up 12 things you must try and eat when you’re visiting Scandinavia. Why did I not get hot dogs in Iceland?!
• Carrie has put together a great guide to North Queensland, Australia. 
• Molly made the wedding cakes and all of the baked goods for her sister-in-law’s wedding, and her diary of the whole process is utterly insane. I would never agree to that!
• I love Beth Kirby’s attitude towards photographing food in restaurants. 

Have you ever eaten a Malay curry off of a banana leaf? A few weeks ago my friend Eddie and I were invited along to Ping Coombes’ Brunch Club at Chi Kitchen off Oxford Street for a traditional feast of curries and rice served on a big banana leaf, mixed and scooped up with our hands. The flavour from the banana leaf infuses into the rice for a whole riot of flavours with a different adventure with every bite. It was not for everyone but we loved it, and I’d really recommend you go along to one of her next brunch clubs – you can find out when the next one is by keeping an eye on the Chi Kitchen events page!

What have you been enjoying this week, and what do you have planned for the weekend? I’m looking forward to a good country pub supper tonight before a lazy weekend in Kent. I’m also going to make my parents their first ever Aperol Spritz, whatever the weather! For more like this, don’t forget to sign up to my monthly newsletter, which hits your inboxes on the first Sunday of each month packed full of seasonal eats, mini cookbook reviews, and other updates.

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