Manhattan Tophat

I love unusual cookbooks and this one that my friend gave me tops the weirdness charts

It's put together by SPACE studios and each recipe is from a different artist. It goes from hugely surreal recipes like Worm Sandwich, Cornish Pebbles on a bed of Concrete Fool, and Humble Pie, to little gems such as Elvis Presley's Fried Peanut Butter and Banana Sandwich, Mrs. Obuabang's Fried Plantain and Manhattan Tophat, which I decided to make myself today, for brunch

All that I would add to the instructions, up there, is that you want to use a knob of butter for frying, salt over everything, and a bit of tabasco on the egg while it's frying

Crack the egg into a cup first, to avoid any trouble. I used quite a small piece of bread so the egg leaked out underneath - I cut the messy bits off, as aesthetics are of primary importance here

And here he is

Doesn't he look smart?

Conclusion: An extremely satisfying way to eat a fried egg with bread

Some Greek foodie things...

It never ceases to amaze me how despite all the differences between the people and cultures around the world, you can find similarities between the various cuisines. So, while you may think sashimi and sake is a flavour exclusive to Japan, I actually ate something very similar tasting in Greece last week

In a small, seafront "mezedopolio" in Kalamos, we ate raw swordfish in olive oil, washed down with raki, which, in my opinion, tastes very similar to cold saki. And sounds almost the same. That potato salad up there is the best one I've ever had, so I asked them for what's in it to make it so good, so here's the list of ingredients, painstakingly translated by my host...

Potatoes

Mayo

Mustard

Radish

Spring onion

Red and yellow peppers

Dill

Parsley

Yoghurt

Needless to say, the potatoes are the star of the show here, the other ingredients are chopped up very small and completely in the background

These are some mastic flavoured sweets I bought for the people at work, and scoffed all by myself. Mastic is a tree resin, which tastes a little bit like honey - it's definitely not everyone's cup of tea, but being a lover of weird and unusual flavours,  I couldn't get enough of them

So, you could say that the trip to Greece was a massive success, I felt so happy over there that a little holiday home in Kalamos has now been added to my list of wildly improbable dreams. I imagine myself swimming in the crystal-clear sea every morning, buying fresh fish straight from the fishermen for lunch, and drawn-out dinners with friends and family on one of those long wooden tables that all Mediterranean   people seem to have, surrounded by pine trees, of course - my favourite smell in the whole world

A trip to Greece - it began with a Greek salad

It all began, rather predictably, with a Greek salad. Here it is on my friend's terrace, with Don Vito, the feta-cheese-loving-dog, looking on...

And here it is again without the eager face of anticipation lurking in the background

It had to be done, basically. There's nothing like Greek tomatoes in the summer, refreshing cucumber, crunchy onion and feta straight from the barrel. With proper, green olive oil, supplied by the host's dad. I also added some black pepper and a little squeeze of lemon, but that's optional. Anyway, this is just to whet you appetite - I will write more about the food I ate in Greece on my return from the Cotswolds

Venison, wine and a nice salad at Wyndstock Festival

I have so much to write about and so little time. I have just returned from Greece for one night, and tomorrow I'm off to the Cotswolds. But what I want to tell you about first, is the weekend before I went on holiday, when I was asked to accompany my friend, Astrid, to Wyndstock festival in the beautiful New Forest

Wyndstock is the sort of party that I imagine people from other countries imagine that people in the UK have all the time. If that makes any sense. It's all floaty tea dresses, Pimms with lemonade and men in pale linen suits wearing fedoras... everyone looking dapper, with an old-school, vintage feel

We danced to a swing band, met a story teller who told us incredible tales in a hot tub in the woods, made animals from vegetables... you know, the usual. Astrid broke her thumb playing midnight badminton and I got feasted on by mosquitoes, but apart from that we had a great time. Frolicking is the word, I believe. That's our vegetable snake up there, in case you were wondering. Considering the high standard of vegetable animals on display, I was surprised when someone decided to nick our one. Perhaps they were planning a BBQ 

We drank plenty of rose...

Spit-roasted venison...

And I stabbed a crab with a butter knife until it split into two (no easy feat) which inspired people to say that Hitchcock would have loved me. I took that as a massive compliment, as I tend to do when not sure which way to go... I hope it doesn't mean that I appear to have psychopathic tendencies, but who knows

As usual, my favourite thing was the simplest - a rocket and parmesan salad with an addition of fresh strawberries. It will be my summer staple from now on. Although the food was delicious, my only criticism is that there wasn't enough of it. However, I'm sure that the organizers will have learnt from their mistakes in time for the next party, which is in August apparently. I can't make it, but if you decide to go next year, then we'll have some good times. I'll bring the mossie repellant