On the Menu

It’s raining……nothing

Philippa Davis’s clients have a frustrating but very well-fed week in Scotland SKIING, when snowfall has been poor, gets rather tricky. Beach holidays without the sun are pretty miserable. Camping in torrential rain is not much fun (well actually camping in any weather is not my idea of fun) and fishing weeks without water are…

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Tastes of the South West at the Queens Arms

THE Queens Arms at Corton Denham has launched a new menu, featuring selected produce from across the region, to mark the owners’ eighth anniversary at the helm. Reflecting changing tastes and evolving approach to eating out, the menu is a collaboration between owners Gordon and Jeanette Reid, and new head chef, Steven Mesher. Many of…

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Something for everyone

EATING out is the answer to eating in as one gets older. As my confidence in my own cooking wanes, and as it takes me longer to organise, invite, shop and cook for an entertainment which lasts only a very few hours, I look with gratitude at all the eating-out possibilities we have around us….

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A passion for all things fishy

by Simone Sekers WHEN we first moved here to Somerset, 15 years ago, we bought our fish from Dick the Fish, who called round the village with his van once a week, and who sold the freshest mackerel we’d ever seen, stiff with recent death, silver darts of deliciousness. When Dick signalled his retirement, he…

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Oranges are the only fruit

FRIENDS who have come to visit have twice recently brought pots of their own newly-made marmalade – quite the nicest present. What prat suggested marmalade was no longer a popular taste? Shaftesbury-based chef and cookery writer Philippa Davis bought her Seville oranges when they came into the shops in January and then got busy catching…

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A spicy cake for foggy February nights

TRAVELLING chef Philippa Davis has been back in Dorset for the first few weeks of 2017 – back to freezing fog and other seasonal delights. So here’s a totally delicious cake from her festive and New Year baking, to enjoy with a mug of hot chocolate (perhaps with a little something extra to keep the…

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Game for a shoot

“Welcome to Scotland, Its -6 °C”! the cheerful staff at Enterprise car hire chirped. I think if they had looked closely at my five layers, hat, gloves, fur lined boots, hunched shoulders and hopping around moves, they would have been well aware that I had totally sussed that part of the situation out. Winning top…

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