"Pano chocolate"

I always feel a slight moment of dilemma when faced with buying one of my favourite pastries. It's one thing asking for a "pain au chocolat" - pronounced with a subtle French accent - when you're in a fancy deli, but it always sounds a bit poncy when you're in a caff at a train station! I occasionally try asking for a "chocolate croissant" instead (pronouncing the t at the end of both words!), but that sometimes just leads to confusion - especially with a non-native English speaking assistant who only knows what it says on the labels.

So it made me smile this morning when I went into a cafe round the corner (neither a posh deli nor a greasy caff) and noticed on the board "pano chocolate" - an amusing error or an intentional compromise? I'd like to think the latter.

Beetroot update!

Back in June, I featured some beetroot seedlings that I was growing on my desk. I planted them out and waited in anticipation all summer, but sadly, they didn't ever really came to much. Not sure if was the weather or just my lack of green fingers, but when I finally pulled them over the weekend, they were truly titchy!!

Undeterred, I did boil up my mini beets and they made them into a dainty little salad. Small but delicious!

The joys of freelancing ... #3 Long lunch

Hmmm, looking back, it seems that many of the joys that I associate with the freelance lifestyle also involve food! Today, I had a yummy lunch inspired by Sophie Dahl on TV last night - a baked potato with the insides taken out and mashed with goat's cheese, creme fraiche, an egg and a spoonful of fresh pesto (my addition, not Miss Dahl's), then popped back in the oven with a few rashers of pancetta:

I love food - as regular readers may have gathered - and it's lovely not to have to make do at lunchtime with a snatched sandwich. I 'cook' lunch most days - sometimes it's a bowl of simple pasta, a hot salad, some stir-fried noodles or like today, a baked potato. Usually, it involves, and is often inspired by, whatever leftovers I find in the fridge (today's goat's cheese, pesto and pancetta all needed using up).

Not only is the process of planning, preparing and eating something different for lunch each day an enjoyable one, but it creates an important break in my day and gets me away from my desk for an hour or so. I think routine is especially important when you work from home - clear breaks and time away from your workspace are essential to keep the work-life balance. I try to switch my brain off from whatever I'm working on too, with the lunchtime news and the Guardian quick crossword - the only one I've got left today is 12 down "German capitalist", 8 letters, _E_L_N_R, I'm always better at the language clues than the general knowledge ones!

A guilty pleasure

I've always been interested in design and presentation. One of my favourite subjects at school was graphic design and had I not gone down the language route, it might have been my alternative career. But it's a love that frequently conflicts with my strongly-held beliefs around waste, packaging and consumerism generally. As much as I'll argue passionately against rampant consumerism, over-consumption and wasteful packaging - I'm also a complete sucker for a bit of well-designed presentation. I can get quite stupidly excited about piles of coloured t-shirts in Gap, I hold my hands up to buying stuff I know I don't need from some of my favourite Scandinavian design brands (Ordning & Reda, Bookbinders, Marimekko, Iittala) and I can't walk past a Muji without buying something!

Today I got a bit of guilty pleasure from a rather unexpected source. I get an organic vegbox delivered once a fortnight. Usually the (recycled and reusable) box is full of mostly loose vegetables, still covered in mud - which in itself looks great. Today though, I had a "choose your own contents" box which not only didn't contain any broccoli or carrots (my recent pet hates!) but also had some rather lovely extra packaging. (For those not au fait with veg boxes, you usually get a selection of veg that's in season and no choice in the matter, but my supplier, Riverford, also give the option of making up your own box if you spend over a certain amount). I'm guessing that because it was put together in a slightly different way, almost all the individual vegetables came in their own beautifully-illustrated, brown paper bags (recycled I'm sure!).


At first, I felt torn between enjoying the presentation but feeling slightly let down by the extra packaging. Thankfully though, the brown bags make excellent liners for my organic waste box - much better than pages from the Guardian that don't really fit properly, get folded up and soggy! Little pleasures ...

The joys of freelancing ... #1 Slow food

I love food and cooking, and one of the joys of working from home is that I don't have to just whip something up in half an hour when I get home in the evening. It's such a pleasure to be able to take a break mid-afternoon to get something started; to put something in to marinate or to start it bubbling away gently on the stove. Today it's been rather cold and snowy outside, so I decided something really comforting would be appropriate and I put a small lamb joint in to slow-roast with some herbs and spices (garlic, cumin and thyme). It's been in for over an hour so far and the whole house is smelling wonderful - I wish I could blog smells!