My New Prawn Brooch

I got this for my birthday.
It came from here.
I am going to wear it every day.

Mall Or Nothing

I'm just back from a quick dash to the rubbish cook shop on Lordship Lane for some star-shaped cutters and you know, they had them too, in three different sizes as well as many other festive shapes.
I was walking back up the road feeling quite pleased when a woman stops me with a flyer. "Do you know about the new indoor market?" she asks. No. I do not."Well it's just here behind Caffe Nero and my friend sells oysters at the back." Five seconds later I'm in there. I've picked up three cut-price books for Scrap for £7 from the first stall, tasted cheese, browsed jewellery and hand-made pottery and some nice old furniture and at the back is the oyster man. He's got three types of oyster: Falmouth Bay Natives, Fine de Claire and Rocks at one of each for just £3.50. He has shallot vinegar that he's made himself and glasses of Champagne and does eat in (no chairs yet) or take away. That's tonight's tea sorted then!

Shallot Vinegar
Very finely chop a shallot and mix with 5 - 6 tablespoons of red wine vinegar. Add brown sugar, salt and pepper, to taste.



Ed Warehouse, 1 Zenoria Street, East Dulwich
The Oystercatcher 07989 554536

Green Cuisine

When Green Cuisine opened up on Lorship Lane about six months ago I was half disappointed as I'd always fancied opening a shop on that stretch myself and half very excited, lets face it, I was never going to do it and blimey, do we need a cookware shop in East Dulwich.

I don't complain often, in fact nowhere near often enough - we've all been trained to accept poor service or badly cooked food as speaking out rarely gets a satisfactory outcome and you know, we don't like to cause a fuss. But that shop is so absolutely rubbish I feel ready to go in and take that bloke on for a proper barney. It is so poor! For a start he answers the phone like a grumpy adolescent so you think you have the wrong number, it doesn't open until 10am, if you go in the shop, the girls don't even stop their chat to look at you and baring in mind that I'm probably the only 'customer' that's walked through the door for the last 2 hours, you'd think they could make a tiny bit of effort but most irritatingly of all, it doesn't actually sell any of the things a cook might need. "I need a 2 litre pudding basin, do you have one?" Nope, will a soup bowl do? No, it won't. Next time I go in, my scales have broken during a baking session. I'll take any style, don't care how much. Nope. No scales. In a cookware shop. Today, first week in November and it's time to make the Christmas Cake. I can't find my tin, could be anywhere so I give them a call. "Do you have a square 18cm cake tin?" No. "No square tins, some rounds ones but not very big" Brilliant! Because no-one round here will be baking cakes, not in November eh??
A cookware shop that doesn't sell cake tins, pudding bowls or kitchen scales!!! Not good enough by a long long way.

Witches' Cats

We're going to Scrap's friend's Halloween tea party this afternoon and we're very excited. We're taking spooky cat biscuits and scary sausage rolls.

Makes 10,000 Biscuits
100g salted butter, room temperature
200g golden caster sugar
1 large egg, beaten
few drops vanilla extract
grated rind of 1 orange
2 tbsp orange juice
300g self raising flour
tube of black piping icing
silver balls, to decorate

With an electric hand whisk, cream together the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy, then beat in the egg and vanilla essence. Add the flour and the orange rind and juice and bring together to make a fairly soft dough.

Roll into a ball, wrap in cling film and chill for at least 30 minutes or until firm enough to roll.

Preheat the oven to 180C/Gas 4. On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough and stamp out shapes - use a cat cutter if you have one – currently £1 each in Roullier White on Lordship Lane. Lift the biscuits onto non-stick baking sheets and bake for 5 minutes until pale golden. Leave to cool on a wire rack.

Pipe or spread the biscuits with black icing. Silver balls make good eyes.

Lomography

My friends Gareth and Ruth gave me a Fisheye Lomo camera for my birthday. How brilliant is that? I am very excited about it and off on holiday tomorrow so could do with some tips on how to use it.

By the way, the Pecs branch of Boots have got Kodak disposable underwater cameras on BOGOF this week. Don't suppose that's very useful information unless you're off on holiday somewhere warm and sunny and by the sea.

Elizabeth Street, SW1

For years now, Charlotte Street has been my favourite London street for eating and drinking. It's lined on either side with great places: Rasa, Passione, Roka, The Charlotte Street Hotel, Fino etc etc. But for shopping as well as eating, Elizabeth Street has become my new favourite.

The other day, I was meeting a friend in Oliveto, a low-key Sardinian place that I'd heard did great pasta and pizza. She was late when I called her from our table and I could tell she'd only just got into a cab. I ordered a coke, ate the whole bread basket, read my book and studied the menu. The waiter was clearing away the table next to me when I mentioned to him that I'd never eaten a sea urchin before (it appears twice on the menu once raw as a starter and once with pasta) he looked at me and said, "Just a moment please" in a very, very strong Italian accent and walked off. I thought he might be struggling a bit with my Derby accent and had gone to ask someone else to see to me when he came back a few minutes later with a piece of hot bruschetta and a little dish with a raw sea urchin in it! How's that for service!

He told me how in Italy he loves to eat them straight from the sea and something about only harvesting them when there's a full moon. Actually I found the urchin a bit full-on and more than a little slimy, but I loved his passion for them and obviously I had to eat it all because he'd given it me specially. Anyway, eventually my friend showed up and I chose a glass of rosé and Malloredus Sardi, a pasta dish with sausages - it was amazing. My pasta was homemade, every little single piece rolled by hand and not only that but the sausages were homemade too. And all for just £11. Great service, great food, good wine, good prices. We were both delighted!

Then my friend noticed that we were directly across the road from The Chocolate Society so we ran over and had spectacular chocolate ice cream (with a piece of hokey pokey chocolate and an espresso) for pudding. On the four minute walk to Sloane Square we stopped at surely the best food shops and clothing boutiques London has to offer: Poilane, Ben de Lisi, Jeroboams, Baker & Spice

Elizabeth Street, then. If you are female and have a spare hour or two, you need to take a walk down there very, very soon indeed...

Cheese and Pigs

An early appointment had us trotting through Marylebone at 9am. Just off the High Street is Moxon St where two of London's best food shops sit side-by-side. First we popped into La Fromagerie where Rob and Scrap sat at a pew scoffing pastries, frothy coffee and pressed apple juice while I stood in the sealed-off Cheese Room sniffing it all in and finally picking a lovely, smokey scamorza and loaf of rosemary bread to take to our friend's party tonight.

Just next door is the equally brilliant Ginger Pig. Again we went in opposite directions as soon as we got into the shop with those two going straight to the deli side and coming back with a very large pork pie and a big hot sausage roll from the cabinet. I meanwhile, stared at the handsome joints and the sausages and wondered if I could fit a cooking opportunity into this weekend (no chance, we're staying with friends tonight and tomorrow) and eventually bought a pair of smoked hocks for just £1.50 each (as they're smoked, they'll last a least a week in the fridge). "Simmer one with some greens" said the butcher "and serve it with creamy mash". I think that's exactly what I'll do.
Recipe to follow soon.