Felicity Cloake

I’m an award-winning writer, full-time breakfast obsessive, and aspiring terrier tamer. To find out more about my work, or get in contact, please click on the links above.

Even I wouldn’t usually have fish and chips twice in the same week, but when you have two sets of friends who live so close to Knights Fish Bar such terrible coincidences will inevitably occur. (I did offset at least one chip by cycling there and back. Probably a good thing it’s a 30km round trip) Couple of events for Red Sauce Brown Sauce coming up, both featuring the real star of the show (Wilf, not Eddy the Condor 🚲): very excited to be chatting to the incredible @jennygrahamis_ the fastest woman to cycle round the world — she mentions Captain Beany’s 100 hours in a bath of beans on p5 of her excellent book about her record-breaking ride, Coffee First, Then the World, so I think we’ll have a lot to discuss — at Herne Hill Velodrome’s Velofete on Sunday 25th June at 3pm (details via @friendsofhernehill) and over breakfast in Southwell, Nottinghamshire for the Bookcase Festival on Sunday, 18th June at 11am. Tickets via @thebookcaselowdham, please come or Wilf will eat all the bacon sandwiches Wilf giving big Celebrity in a Bad Mood Ambushed by a Fan for a Selfie vibes here 😎. Which is basically exactly what happened when I got home I suppose it could be argued I didn’t need any dinner today but felt a powerful desire for som tum around 7pm which I translated into the pounded cabbage slaw (tum galum plee) from @hotthaikitchen’s new book of simple Thai recipes Sabai, because I could easily pick up a green cabbage from the corner shop on my evening dog walk, whereas sourcing a green papaya would probably involve leaving the dog at home. I had everything else (garlic, chillies, palm sugar, peanuts, tomatoes, fish sauce, limes, tamarind and half a carrot) already. “Light, crunchy, tart and spicy” — and very pleasing indeed with some steamed rice Anyone who’s read more than one of my roughly one billion “Perfect” columns in the Guardian will be aware of my nutmeg fixation. Incredible spice, even more incredible history — and far more versatile than the over-exposed vanilla imo. This fiery ball of mace and flavour was the absolute highlight of a very eclectic selection at today’s Great Taste Awards judging — once I’d worked out how to get at the actual nutmeg, which was twice the size of anything I’d seen before. Also dumplings, tablet, pumpkin seed oil, venison sausages, innumerable honeys — and an ice cream lunch because even with @marthadelacey away I have traditions to uphold. For those asking (@barbarasegall) Wilf does not appear to have missed me in the least but did graciously allow me to rub his chin for a while before going back to sleep #greattasteawards #greattasteawards2023 A food stylist would have taken the asparagus tips out of this dish before tossing the pasta with an asparagus cream so it was apparent what the hell was going on in the picture but I knew because I’d made it so I didn’t bother. Based on a @barney_desmazery recipe for @bbcgoodfood but with added lemon zest, no garlic because I forgot to re-read it, and pecorino instead of Parmesan because I love it. You may think that’s twiddling so much with it I’m taking liberties attributing it to Barney, but if you read the comments suggesting adding chicken and swapping the asparagus cream for pesto, you’ll realise I’ve actually been quite respectful? Enjoyably nosy afternoon touring Barnsbury’s Open Gardens — finally made it into Barnsbury Wood, London’s smallest nature reserve, a mere 19 years after moving into the area — learning about bonsai, buying tiny foxgloves in the hope they’ll do well in pots as the dog cannot be trusted not to flatten small ground-level plants with his big bottom and putting away an excellent empire biscuit en route #ngsopengardens #londonngs Two things I’ve just finished — late to the Jersey Royal party but they are very good aren’t they (So dense!) dressed with vinaigrette and a sort-of-gribiche, and topped with griddled asparagus. And this book, about walking from Canterbury to Jerusalem, which was also enjoyable but will not be my next project. Bit hot for Wilf I think. Asking for deliverance from the kind of idiots that make him come to Primrose Hill before @lbpedlar is open for croissants, prevent him from hoovering up the remains of last night’s picnics and then force him to pretend to be a furry handbag while they coo over the boring roses in Queen Mary’s dog-free Garden 🙄
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