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Pertelote is learning to be an Eastender - watch this space for jellied
eels, pie and mash - which is quite a contrast to her previous life as an
alumna Cantabrigiensis. She was born in Hertfordshire ("Where?" "Yes.")
and has four parents, three brothers and
innumerable aunts. The following details may tell you a little more about
her; the fact that she listed them may tell you rather a lot more.
cooking style Fresh ingredients, loud flavours, large portions
(and bad photos: bear with me).
currently reading Bareback, Kit Whitfield
ten favourite books
| Aged 0-2 | Each Peach Pear Plum, Janet & Allan
Ahlberg |
| Aged 2.5-5 | Where the Wild Things Are, Maurice
Sendak |
| Aged 5-7 | The Jungle Book, Rudyard
Kipling |
| Aged 7.5-10 | Clever Polly and the Stupid Wolf,
Catherine Storr |
| Aged 10-12 | The Dark is Rising, Susan
Cooper |
| Aged 12.5-15 | The Colour Purple, Alice
Walker |
| Aged 15-17 | The Secret History, Donna
Tart |
| Aged 17.5-20 | The Aeneid, Virgil |
| Aged 20-22 | Attic Term, Antonia Forest |
| Aged 22.5-25 | How to Eat, Nigella
Lawson |
| Aged 25-27 | Mariana, Monica
Dickens (pub. Persephone Books) |
| Aged 27.5-present | Greenery Street, Denis
Mackail |
things I will learn to make one day |
nostalgia food from my childhood |
| fresh pasta | spaghetti shapes |
| sushi | toast and marmite |
| profiteroles and then a croquembouche | omelettes |
| beautifully smooth white sauce | mince and
potatoes |
| jam | cereal bars after swimming lessons |
pancakes | pink mousse |
roast sunday lunch with all the trimmings and without
panic |
roast sunday lunch with all the trimmings and without panic |
| millefeuille | french bread and camembert for Saturday
lunch |
duck confit | cottage pie |
| spring rolls | chicken and mushroom risotto |
| brioche | croissants before Church on Sundays |
food metaphors I love - a gradual collection
| [on the texture of honey] 'velvety but slightly grainy,
like an embroidered drapery' | Clothilde of Chocolate and
Zucchini |
| [on a tarte tatin] 'the apples rest coyly atop their
thousand-layered blanket like Ingres's Grande Odalisque on her
chaise' | Molly at Saucy |
| [on ricotta] 'soft, evanescent, slightly eggy,
like the breath of a baby who's just been fed' | Matthew Fort in Eating
Up Italy |
| [on cornmeal cake] 'it is to cornbread as a
silk nightgown is to cotton pajamas' | Molly again, at Orangette |
| [on family life] 'the love that moves the sun and
other stars is also the love that makes the toast and other
snacks' | Simon Barnes, in The Times, November 2006 |
ways I know I'm me when I'm at work
- the zips on my boots jingling when I run up the stairs
- the snap of C and me in full graduation rig outside the Old
Schools, clutching one very well-deserved degree (his) and one
blimey-that's-a-bonus one (mine), and grinning like loons
- the wind-up penguin on my computer
- the long, long list of food blogs in my favourites
- and the constant grocery lists scribbled on post-its
- the St Germain des Pres street sign on my keyring when I lock
the office door
final thought
Next to eating good dinners, a healthy man with a benevolent turn of
mind, must like, I think, to read about them - William Makepeace
Thackeray
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