Magic beans
Here they are: our favourite beans. We could eat these beans for breakfast, lunch and supper and we would never tire of them: that is, pretty much, the universal household sentiment.
She’s like a cold coffee…
Iced coffee. It’s not hard. When I was growing up, there was always a jar of it in the fridge, the remains of the morning’s pot. Probably that doesn’t go down too well with the cold-brew crowd, but it worked for my Mom.
The right stuff
Now, nuts are a good snack, right? Theo likes nuts. Trouble is, he likes KP nuts, which are, let’s say, pretty salty. (Interesting, however, that when you click on “Nutritional information” on KP’s website you’ll only get told how good for you nuts are: not how much salt is in each serving. It’s too small to read on the packet. Answer: every 50g serving — that’s not a lot — contains 12 per cent of an adult’s recommended salt intake.)
In the mix
My Dad was famous for his pancakes. How famous? Well, famous in our house, and that was famous enough for all of us. The pancake ritual was an important part of my growing up: my Dad was a firm believer in “silver dollar” pancakes — his were a little bigger than the coin in question, but not much — and so the first time, as a kid, I ordered pancakes in a diner and got a stack as wide as my face, well, it was quite a shock, I can tell you.
Theo wants chicken pie
When are you going to make chicken pie again? asks my son. No time like the present, I say. Chicken pie in our house is a scratch affair: we are not afraid of ready made pastry or, indeed, a bit of stock from a bottle.
Eggzactly
I’m trying to kick the kitchen-gadget habit; but a couple of weeks ago in Paris, killing time on the rue d’Assas, I couldn’t resist the above, which you can find here. It’s an egg poacher for the microwave, and I’m smitten. Scramble up an egg in a bowl with a little spoonful of cream or creme fraiche (or, heck, Boursin or cream cheese), salt and pepper, and some little dots of butter. Dab a little oil inside the silicone pot; slide in your egg and pop on the cover; give it 30 seconds in the micro (mine’s 800w)and check what you’ve got; you might need to stir it and give it another 10 seconds. A perfect coddled egg, no boiling water necessary. Breakfast!