The Friday 5 #103

The ideal food when you’re on the move, the perfect menu for a summer feast and 6 cracking wine bargains from Morrisons

So the summer solstice has already passed and it feels as if summer has only just started. As Olivia Laing puts in in her wonderful book The Garden Against Time which I do urge you to read not only for the lyrical descriptions of gardening but the bigger issues it raises about the acquisition of land and wealth and how those gardens came into being

“I find the summer solstice weirdly disturbing. How can the light be diminishing before summer’s even got into gear. It feels as if everything’s over before it’s even started.”

I get that slightly mournful feeling too. 

Anyway lets not wish these summer months away. Yesterday I went for a glorious high summer walk in Hyde Park then had lunch outside in a brilliant under-the-radar restaurant in Bermondsey on which more below.

If all this makes your mind turn to picnics maybe you need to take a leaf out the South Africans’ book and discover the art of padkos or road food which I’m assured by my daughter-in-law the Saffers do better than anyone else

Our cooking club held a English summer feast to say farewell to two of our members who are intrepidly moving to Marrakesh and I thought you might like to know what we cooked and ate. It would be a great menu to replicate if you’re celebrating English wine week this week

Oh, and on a slightly different note I’m taking part in a panel discussion and tasting on natural wine at The Pilgrm hotel on Thursday July 11th as part of their Women In Wine series along with Emily Harman and Heidi Nam Knudsen so if you feel you’d like to understand natural wine better do book a ticket and come along. We did one for International Women’s Day earlier in the year which was a great success

On to some (non-natural, I confess) wine bargains …