At Marie Blachère in Carcassonne, they bake their baguettes three ways: light, standard and well done. I couldn’t decide. So naturally, I bought all three. #BreadSky ⊹ 🥐. ݁˖ . ݁݁🥖

Very sad to hear that Clive Davis has passed away. When I moved to New York in 2003 and worked at Sony BMG, I was fortunate enough to cross paths with him almost daily. Tireless, passionate about music, and blessed with an extraordinary ear for talent. The man with the golden ears. #clivedavis

Happy Summer Solstice. This morning’s kitchen garden haul: elephant garlic, Romanesco courgettes and round Luneor courgettes. Not a bad start to the day. ☀︎⋆.ೃ࿔*:･ #SummerSolstice 🌞

The Luneor courgettes are already coming thick and fast. First few are ready to pick this week. These ones won't be sliced. They'll be hollowed out, stuffed and baked whole. 🌱🥒 #kitchenharden

First blueberries ready this morning 🫐. Duke variety. Not the finest blueberry I grow, but they arrive before the others and this morning's crop is heading straight for my yoghurt. #kitchengarden

This week’s sourdough bake: a rustic country loaf at 81% hydration. A crisp, blistered crust and a soft, open crumb. Toasted and spread with Seville marmalade, it’s a killer combination. #Sourdough

This morning's carrot harvest. 🥕 Cosmic Purple, Purple Haze and Amsterdam Forcing. Grown from seed, pulled fresh, and on the plate later today. #kitchengarden 𐔌՞. .՞𐦯🥕 ༘⋆

This morning's carrot harvest. 🥕 Cosmic Purple, Purple Haze and Amsterdam Forcing. Grown from seed, pulled fresh, and on the plate later today. #kitchengarden 𐔌՞. .՞𐦯🥕 ༘⋆

Last week’s walk in the woods to catch the last of the bluebells. A carpet of blue as far as the eye could see, and for a while the world and all its angst felt very far away. This is my happy place. #bluebells 🪻🌳🪻🌳

First Senshyu onions lifted, planted in September and worth the wait. Some real beauties among them. They’ll spend the next fortnight curing in the greenhouse, until the skins are papery and ready for storing. #kitchengarden 🧅🧅

A blue tit fledgling 🐦took an unscheduled trip out of its nest this morning. What followed was a race between my husband, Vincent, and Luna the cat to see who could reach it first. Thankfully Vincent won and the baby is back where it belongs. #birdsofbluesky

𝐂𝐚𝐫𝐨𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐚 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐩𝐞𝐫 𝐏𝐞𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐫: 𝐖𝐞𝐞𝐤 𝟐𝟎 🌶️ Week twenty. It’s bushing out, gaining height and beginning to branch. The first flowers are starting to appear. Quite a change from the tiny seedling that started all this. #SeedToHarvest 👩‍🌾🌱

One last walk through the rapeseed yesterday evening. The yellow is fading, but the scent remains; sweet, pungent and slightly heady. Honey, pollen and warm brassicas drifting across the fields. #FloralFriday 💚🫧💭🦋🌼₊˚ෆ

Broad beans this evening, podded straight from the allotment kitchen garden. Meatballs rolled beside me, basmati steaming slowly on the stove. Podding broad beans is either therapeutic or intensely irritating. Usually both. #KitchenGarden 🌞🌱👩‍🌾

Making Tuscan Bean Soup tonight. Instead of pancetta I used chopped bacon. Homemade vegetable stock and homegrown rosemary complement the bought items like beans and canned tomatoes . #CookSky #TuscanBeanSoup #FoodSky

What a legend.... #SonnSonny Rollins, Giant of the Jazz Saxophone, Is Dead at 95 - The New York Times

First strawberries from the patch this afternoon: Gento, Sweet Ann, Albion and Lambada. These will go alongside a homemade Madagascar vanilla ice cream tonight. #kitchengarden

Nothing much to see here - just a sourdough loaf I baked with a star-score pattern. Or is that a starfish? 𖦹°·𓇼 # #sourdough

Aquadulce Claudia broad beans 🫛🫛 are starting to swell. These were sown on the allotment last November. Picked the plumpest pods today; the rest should be ready in another week or two. #KitchenGarden 🌱👩‍🌾

Where I live, spring is all golden rapeseed fields and bluebell woods. Passed these beautiful fields of gold yesterday afternoon beneath a clear blue sky. Breathtaking. #fieldsofgold

Rhubarb and custard tartlets this week with Fultons Strawberry Surprise and Stockbridge Arrow rhubarb from the allotment. Poached rhubarb over vanilla set custard and a layer of rhubarb compote in sweet shortcrust pastry. Kept the sugar light and let the rhubarb do the work.

My newsletter is called Tales From Topographic Kitchens and I've been writing it since 2016 (it won a national award from the Guild of Food Writers; the first food newsletter to do so!) * food + cooking * book reviews * themed roundups of the best food + culture writing I'd love you to subscribe!

Tomatoes 🍅͙ 10 days in the ground and settling in well. Started under lights late Jan, then greenhouse → cold frame → planted out on the Kent coast. #GreenHeart 💚

PSA if you are a peanut butter fan, Home & Bargain currently have Haagen-Daz peanut butter crunch ice cream at £1.49. I restrained myself & only bought 2 tubs.

First of the early strawberries turning red now. Picked and eaten straight away. A few varieties cropping one after the other, a season that runs from these first handfuls through to the last pickings before frost. #KitchenGarden 🍓

Pink and white blossom 🌸 on my young Bramley apple tree.

Forget the Rainbow Bridge; this one keeps them off it. "The UK’s first heathland green bridge is due to open in Surrey next month to help snakes, toads and badgers cross the busy A3, National Highways says.” #heathlandgreenbridge

We’re building a heavy-duty polytunnel from scratch on the allotment kitchen garden. The aim is simple: year-round organic produce and fewer reasons to rely on supermarkets. Cutting out the middleman starts in the soil. #KitchenGarden

A “miracle tree” can remove up to 98% of microplastics from drinking water, outperforming some chemical treatments. A plant doing what industrial processes struggle with. #Microplastics

New asparagus bed, properly prepared with fresh seaweed, well-rotted manure and homemade compost. Gijnlim, Guelph Millennium and Pacific Purple going in. Good ground matters more than anything with asparagus. #KitchenGarden 🌞🌱👩‍🌾

Without them there is no life: the race to understand the mysterious world of Africa’s fungi.

Baked a giouvetsi with orzo using lamb neck. Exceptionally tender, which is what it should be at this time of year. Greek workshop training still earning its keep. #FarmToTable 🍽️

𝐂𝐚𝐫𝐨𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐚 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐩𝐞𝐫 𝐏𝐞𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐫: 𝐖𝐞𝐞𝐤 𝟏𝟏 🌶️ Week eleven. Now in the greenhouse and potted on. Mulched with compost and seaweed, then inoculated with mycorrhizal fungi. With this level of attention, it should have no excuses. #SeedToHarvest 👩‍🌾🌱

uh-huh

𝐂𝐚𝐫𝐨𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐚 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐩𝐞𝐫 𝐏𝐞𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐫: 𝐖𝐞𝐞𝐤 𝟏𝟏 🌶️ Week eleven. Now in the greenhouse and potted on. Mulched with compost and seaweed, then inoculated with mycorrhizal fungi. With this level of attention, it should have no excuses. #SeedToHarvest 👩‍🌾🌱

Pleased to say this week’s episode of the Kitchen Cabinet is finally up on sounds. Apologies for the delay www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...

Excellent. A little vanilla ice cream or creme fraiche doesn't hurt...clotted cream maybe...biscuit on the side. OOooo, hey maybe a strawberry rhubarb short cake?! Bet that would be wicked.

We have another great interview with Ravenous co-founder @francesdoingthings.bsky.social today, where she talks about advertisers creeping into editorial independence, and also the superiority of spam sushi www.weareravenous.com/frances-duml...

Rhubarb pushing its way out of the forcer on the allotment. Grown in the dark, it comes out tender, almost silk-like, with a softer acidity. Going into a crumble later - very little sugar needed. #KitchenGarden 🎋

𝐂𝐚𝐫𝐨𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐚 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐩𝐞𝐫 𝐏𝐞𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐫: 𝐖𝐞𝐞𝐤 𝟏𝟎 🌶️ Week ten. It’s bushing out and the stem is thickening. This weekend it leaves home, moving into the greenhouse with a fresh pot and soil. Apparently, it’s ready. #SeedToHarvest 👩‍🌾🌱

Good Friday morning. Fresh from the oven, a batch of sourdough hot cross buns with citrus and spice. Breakfast’s on me. #HotCrossBuns ✩°𓏲⋆🌿. ⋆⸜ 🍵✮˚

Soaking my Ozark bell pepper 🫑 seeds in chamomile tea for better and faster germination.

🍽️🍜 Baby girl was home yesterday for her last Spring Break, she graduates in May, and she requested a crawfish boil so that's what she got. It's a lot of work but it sure is fun. I'm still recovering today. Ordering pizza tonight! 😂

‘Red Duke of York’ coming through on the patch - that purple-green on the first leaves. One of several varieties of potatoes we’re growing this year, but the first to make a grand entrance. #EdibleGarden ˚˖𓍢ִִ໋🌼🌞🥔˚˖𓍢ִ🌿˚.

Just been approached by Huel to see if I'll be part of their paid influencer campaign. I don't think they're quite across what I do for a living. (FWIW, and in the interests of having influence, I regard Huel as a soul destroying, miserable product and the death of all that is worth living for.)

Beef stifado, from an advanced cookery workshop I took in Greece last year. Six hours on a low heat and the onions break down into the sauce while the beef turns soft enough to cut with a spoon. #ComfortFood 👩‍🍳🍽️

First strawberry flowers of the season. Vibrant is the variety, one of many we’re growing. I’m already thinking cheesecake and ice cream. #kitchengarden ₊˚⊹♡🍰🍓♡⊹˚₊