Thursday, July 06, 2006

Dear Olive Magazine,

I would like to get involved. I would like to impress you. Please be in touch to tap my local knowledge, ask me to test recipes, new foodie products, cookbooks and gadgets and hear my suggestions for keeping olive fresh and exciting and relevant to the way I eat! Please?


New format and series of Saturday Kitchen has rocked my boat. Gone are the days of me grumbling at Antony Worral Thompson's patronizing and egotistical remarks, only to welcome fresh and interesting perspectives from James Martin. Thanks, BBC.


I first stumbled across B when I was working next door. A sign said, "Sign up now for a food and wine tasting event! Places limited." I'm not one to shirk at invitations like that, so I signed up. We have been a customer ever since. The evening only cost £5 and we were full and drunk by the end of it, critiquing our way to their next menu. Even though it looks more like a bar, I'd call B a gastropub - because the food is wonderful and they don't serve cocktails. B Bar, Market Passage, Cambridge, UK.



Nigel has to be one of my favourite food writers. So fresh, so endearing, so English and so alive. The Kitchen Diaries is a neverending source of inspiration. It's what I strive for. And it's the way I want to live my life.







Southern California is probably one of my favourite places to visit for gastronimical delights. Here I can find authentic Mexican food without the sicky tummy as all restaurants are graded for cleanliness. And besides, who doesn't want In 'N Out Burger and Krispy Kremes on their holiday? Thanks to usargentina.com for the SoCal map.


A local secret (shhhh, don't tell anyone), Cafe` Adriatic is a deceptively large restaurant preparing modern Mediterranean dishes. With the kitchen on display in the shop window, it's amazing how they can prepare such tasty dishes in such a small place. With safe items like pizza for the less adventurous to the more exotic carpaccio of tuna and whole baked sea bream, Cafe` Adriatic is a safe place for new friends, first dates or dinners with parents. Well priced, the service is attentive and the seafood literally still jumping, I'm looking forward to visiting it again soon. Cafe` Adriatic, Mill Road, Cambridge, UK


Cover the bottom of a pan with olive oil and then some. Add one chopped onion and some squashed garlic and heat on medium until the onion becomes translucent. Add about that much arborio rice and heat the rice through until the rice is well coated in oil. Add a splash of very hot vegetable stock and stir until it has been absorbed into the rice. Add 2 diced fresh-of-the-farm beets and stir through until the mix has turned pink. Add a glug of stock and stir until it has been absorbed. Season with lots of pepper and a little salt. Continue this process, glug-stir-absorb until the rice is cooked through. Add one lemon's worth of juice but beware of the pips. Absorb the lemon juice into the rice. Add a dab of butter and stir through until melted (I didn't do this as butter and I are having an argument at the moment). Serve. (Actual recipe available on request.)

What 5 ingredients would I take to a desert island? Well, if I was sensible, I would probably take a whole lot of fruit and veg, so I could grow them and have an abundant supply. But somehow, I don't think this is the point of the exercise. Thanks to iwantoneofthose.com for the pretty picture.

1. Eggs - so versatile
2. Greek yoghurt - milk and cream alternative and oh so yummy
3. Prosciutto - Good source of protein and no fridge required
4. Strawberries - A life is half lived without strawberries
5. Garlic - For it's health benefits and good for flavouring fish

Well, Olive, I hope to hear from you soon! And remember to contact me if there's any other information that you require.

Warm Regards,


Bonnie
xox

Update: 1st October, 2006

A couple of weeks ago, Olive contacted me to let me know that I am now a part of their ReaderPanel. I'm not quite sure where this will take me or what they will ask me to do, but I'm suitably excited and I can't wait to get my teeth into whatever they throw at me.

4 comments:

Sam said...

good call! good luck, bonnie...

Anonymous said...

Hope the people at Olive get in touch with you quickly!

Great post ...

Anonymous said...

Hi Bonnie - I got here via your link to my site, you are my neighbour :) Thanks for all the recommendations in Cambridge, I'd like to try them some time soon. Oh and James is definitely better than Antony, isn't he...

Pille said...

I haven't watched Saturday Kitchen for a while, because I wasn't too keen on AWT. Now - with James - it might be worth getting up early on Saturday after all:)
And I love Nigel's book a lot (did you read his memoirs?) Maybe it's the name - Nigella is my other firm favourite:)

Search Daydream delicious...