Lavender & Lovage - A culinary notebook of memories & recipes from home & abroad - A Review

Karen Burns Booth was one of the first food bloggers I ever came in contact with in my early blogging days and despite having never met in the flesh so to speak, is someone I consider a friend.

Her beautiful blog "Lavender and Lovage" was always something I aspired to in my own blogging efforts and was inspired by over the years.

Some 7 ish  or so years later, I was highly delighted to be sent a copy of her beautiful book to review, the book is very much Karen, part diary, part travelog, part life history but very much the book of a passionate lover of food and its importance in life not just as nutrition but as the linkage to a time and place in your life.

The book is wonderful  from start to finish, starting with the illustrated cover by Callie Jones which depicts Karen's new Welsh home on the Lyn Peninsula. The book features photographs from Karen's family archive of her vibrant upbringing in several countries and her world travels and all the food photography is Karen's own work too.

Image by Rama Knight

Divided into the sections such as "middlings" or a "bit on the side "and "on the shelf" the book exudes Karen, her fun down to earth approach to life and more importantly food. The book acknowledgements is like a who's who of my foodie inspirations.

Do yourself a favour and purchase yourself a copy you won't regret it, the book is a perfect gift for the foodie in your life, the recipes are tried and tested favourites of Karen, there is no higher recommendation in my eyes.

You can purchase a copy from Amazon or from your local bookstore who I am sure will be able to order if they don't already have this in.

Fruit by Rosemary Sassoon

Book Guild Publishing recently sent me a copy of the newly published book from Rosemary Sasson, Fruit - Grow, cook and preserve your own.

This handy sized softbacked book retails for £9.95 and is not your usual preserving, gardening book. Its more a sort of diary and the musings of Rosemary, her garden and how she uses the produce she grows. 

Its a practical book illustrated with her own photographs and rather than lavish pages of recipes its a chatty guide in three parts, Growing, Cooking and preserving. The last section particularly also reflects on life and its demands which impact the time or ability  you have to garden and cook as you progress through life. There are lots of handy hints, tips and ideas on using produce if a little focused on the more suburban or country dweller.

Mens Pie Manual by Haynes. A Guest Review by Mr Lancashire Food

If , like me you are a man of a certain age, you grew up with a collection of Haynes Manuals. Maybe to get your first car through its MOT and later on to give your lawn mower a service before its first cut of the season. These's books were written with step by step instructions and photographs to important steps in the processes. So, what has this got to do with cooking? well, the people from Haynes have teamed up with food journalist and author Andrew Webb to produce a manual to Men's Pies.

Just like the traditional manuals, the book is broken down into useful chapters.

· Tools of the trade - an overview of all the strange things you find in the kitchen but were afraid to ask what they did.

· Making Pastry - covering such topics as different flours and fats and how to make seven!! different types of pastry. Watch this space GBBO next year !

· Stocks and sauces - we all like the juicy gravy and jellies in pies.

· Meat Pies - following a short section on food Hygiene we are treated to step by step instructions on how to make 20 different meat related pies.

· The next five chapters cover other pie fillings such as fish, vegetables and fruit. Also, a chapter on pasties, sausage rolls etc.

As this is a book about Men's baking Mrs LF decided that I should make a from the book. Being a Lancashire lad, born and bred in Chorley, I grew up on a traditional pork pies made by Thornleys pork butchers, so it had to be a pork pie. Looking through the book, I decided that a cross between a Melton Mowbray and a Gala pie resembled most the pie of my childhood.

The Haynes Men’s Pie Manual is available from www.haynes.co.uk priced £21.99 and would make a smashing thoughtful christmas present for the man in your life.

My only disappointment  being a Lancashire lad that missing from the book was the iconic Lancashire speciality - the butter pie, otherwise its a great book. This blog fortunately does have a recipe which you can find here.

I'm going to hand back over now to Linzi for her to blog my actual bake from the book. Here is the first image of my bake.

Blog hop nominated by Vintage Folly

Right everyone, I've been nominated by my fellow blogger Vintage Folly for a blog hop, thanks Rachel for the nomination.

Our hens in the garden

Basically a blog hop is were I answer a few questions and then nominate a couple of other bloggers to do the same, its great fun and a chance for everyone to explore new blogs and gain an insight into bloggers that they may not have come across before.

I love blogging and like Rachel have met (virtually in a lot of cases) people I now consider friends, although Rachel is a bit different in the fact that I have actually met her in the flesh on numerous occasions being a member of my WI (yes I know, but we both love it and its a "young" WI) and she is also a member of the clandestine cake club like me.

The food blogging community is very friendly and supportive and I have learnt loads from others which has enabled the quality of my posts to improve over the years. Blogging has also raised my profile to others and without this blog I would have never had the opportunity to be published in several recipe books, appear on radio and television and also write about food in magazines. I have worked with some amazing people and love the "voice" the blog provides me with,  happily food photography has also become something my husband has excelled at so we now have a great shared hobby.

Mr and Mrs Lancashire Food

                         

Why do I write ?

I write as I love sharing, whether it be recipes or just my thoughts on the latest food fad.The blog started off as a way to share recipes and images of what I was cooking and eating but has grown over the years to become alot more.

The blog is now my hobby and I know this sounds weird but my stress relief from my "day" job and exactly like Rachel over at Vintage Folly a way of keeping in touch with my "virtual" friends and acquaintances, its so much fun linking up and sharing your creative ideas with others and seeing their ideas too.

What am I working on ?

Currently I am researching and writing my next months article for a magazine I write for, along with banking a few blog posts ready for publishing over the next few weeks and planning my posts for the next month or so. I am also planning a WW2 outfit and some suitable food for our next WI event and making jam and practising cake recipes ready for the WI county show.

How does my blog differ from others of its genre ?

It's focused very much on Lancashire Food which is different that other food blogs, we proudly promote and support local Lancashire food products, producers and venues. We also enjoy creating recipes using homegrown or locally foraged food and letting people know where in Lancashire you can buy some great local produce or eat out well. We really get a great fillip when one of the small producers or venues wins an award, its so humbling to see the hardwork and determination that has gone into growing a local food business.

How does my writing process work ?

I write on a laptop normally in the loving room, grabbing spare time whenever I can, often this is inspired by a new recipe I have been planning or seasonal product that I have spotted in the market or growing in the garden. I tend to do some reading around whatever I am planing on writing about and then set about the planning the post and the images that will go with it. Its then that I am off to the kitchen to play and cook up a storm ready for the photography later. Some posts and particularly the photographs takes hours to perfect before its something that I'm happy to let loose on the world.

Nominations

My nominations are Irwin Kraus author of The Amateur Peasant a great food blog which displays Irwin's Italian food heritage and  the thought provoking Whispers From the Ledge, he's based in New Hampshire in the States.

My other nomination is Janice Pattie who writes Farmers Girl Kitchen blog from the borders area of Scotland.

Over to you two ........... you have until the 15th September to publish your post, go on share some blog love.