Henry Does Good.

I am often teased by my assistant as being a coniving evil trickster. Toot toot hey beep beep! But every so often I actually do something nice. This shocks some people as they start to question the theory of relativity and try and remember if they took their daily medication. So yeah I can also be a do-gooder. Yet I am no tree hugging hippie who bathes in Patchouli & Sandlewood oils, and I am not about to bust out with male Ugg boots or Birkenstocks. So you can put your hippie strength mace away. I recently joined The People's Supermarket as a member and joined the Marketing commitee. As a business owner myself, I know what it like to struggle to make a business work and it takes blood, sweat and fucking tears.

The purpose of the The People's Supermarket is to promote fair trade to all and it's members providing locally sourced foods and vegetables as well as organic that are virtually at the threat of extinction due to supermarket chains. The Big chains have a strangle hold on the farmers whom provide most foods we eat in this country and virtually place them in threat of phasing them out of business. Flowers are sold that are not flown in from other countries and foods are delievered straight from the suppliers themselves. This Co-Op is a member run and feuled innitiative, for the people by the people. This is not a new appraoch to supermarket

Paying a small joining fee, you are the required to do four hours of work within the store a month and you recieve a 10% discount.
What I find really enjoyable is that the people are friendly and that you are apart of doing something positive and helping local and small buiness while sticking the finger to the big chain supermarkets. I have to say that the produce at the People's supermarket is very lovely and I actually enjoy cooking the food I purchase as does my partner. Although he is not a member he supports the ideology of the store. He just doesn't have four hours a month to volunteer his time.

There are big plans for the store and it's quickly approaching it's 1st year anniversary. You can visit the supermarket and buy products that spa high end, mid range to standard basic foods that most households have, In anycase it's worth a visit and be apart of something positive. productive and good. Everytime I buy something I honestly feel I have made the right choice. I am not only helping the environment, and the local farmer just trying to make a honest living, but getting involved with the people of London and that is absolutely priceless. The store is quite easy to get to and would encourage anyone who lives in London to give it a vistit.

Come Dine With Me!

Over the weekend I treated Bren to a movie, and since I have a thing for cooking shows I dragged him to see Julie and Julia. The film was ok, but it was the food that gabbed my goat and floated my boat. As I watch most cooking shows I am more prone to Hugh Fernley Whittingstall and Heston Blumenthal over hot head Gordon Ramsay or even Marco Pierre White, whose restaurant I have been to. But Our beloved Notting Grill is gone and we are both left with Julie's in Holland Park as our local fave. So this brought me to thinking about the new wave of restaurants that I like to inhabit. Living in London, I do have other favourites, such as Nobu and Black and Blue and Galicia on Portobello Road. Yet, my palette calls out for more screams even for bigger bolder badder. So with the trend of underground restaurants taking place over my choice for clubs, there is something to be said for the speak easy restaurants peppered all over this city.

Such as The Pale Blue Door in Hackney and The Surrealist Dinner Club these are two that are worth getting on the list for. I can act a damn fool and drink like I usually do at a family reunion and not really care, cause it ain't a party till something is broken. With limited space in such venues it is more intimate and a lot more social in such gatherings. Tony Hornecker turns his flat into an on off dinner establishment with complete with entertainment that makes this quit a nite to remember. I do enjoy cooking for large groups of people and when all else goes horribly wrong for me in the kitchen, the worst does happen. I virtually turn into my mother with one to many double jacks and the barbed bon motts keep a flowing. So if you like your mains served up with roast beef and drag queens this is a thing that will far surpass the boring old dinner party. With the Surrealist Dinner Party having a small hosting this too reminds me of Shunt Vaults.


With pop up restaurants and shops taking place all over London such as Stokey's The Secret Ingredient, it's no surprise that London is still such an amazing city to live in. So armed with my booze and appetite I will always dig in. Bon Appettite.

Food For The Soul!

i complain! I bitch, I moan and constantly grip about the injustice that seems prevelant in Mary Ol England. However, I can say that since living here I have become very acustomed to broadingin my palete. Yes, I can tell the difference between crap
Champagne, Cavier and Lumpfish Caviar, the difference between French Brioche and standard Brioche. So don't even get me started on Liqour and the Finest of the Brown Ales. Whiskey... The one grip and thing I miss most is Mexican food here in this country. Luckily I live two blocks from Ye Portobello Road and there are two Spanish Deli's that when I enter them I automatically go into cholo mode and start rolling my R's when ordering Chorizo Dulce Picante or whatever for fear that they might give me a diiferent cut ,even less customer service. Since I can make most of my favorite dishes it takes fucking time.

Since being with my Bren has come to love Mexican food. His Favorite, Chicken Mole.. and my recipe will go to my death bed. His Seconf fave that I make is Carnita's ala Cerdo de la fruta cítrica. Now mexican cooking is similar to that of Indian cooking which I have become very fond of. That said Curry is the nations favorite here, Mexican would be a shoe in for a close second. But sadly not. True Mexican takes time effort and you have to stand at the stove with a watchful eye to make the best dishes.

Over the weekend we went to Wahacca in White City. Owned by Tomasina Meyers of 2005 master chef fame. Well it's a step above Taco Bell but not by much. The tortilla chips are rock hard and although supposed to be organic corn used I started to think this bitch must have added abit of concrete to the recipe cause the cut quite tough. The Salsa Verde is crap and bland. visions of my grandmother kicking her ass over this recipe would be a hardy welcome. The hot sauce is mild to behonest and the only real big shame is her gaucamole is weak, limp an bland. For all this woman's study of the street foods in the regions of Mexico, she left out the one vital ingredient to make this recipe work. The culture is missing from the food, no passion or fiestiness. No chile no tamales,nothing. I seemed to piss off two chefs at another Mexican Restuarant called Taqueria on Westborne Grove when I hand my dog a corn tortilla they had just made. She spit it out, as I countered, "My dog wont even it it, so what makes you think i would?" No real smell of home cooking and thats what kinda suck about Wahacca. Especially since the waiters mispronounce some of the dishes. Anytime some dippy posh broad thinks she's cutting edge with an accolade such as a Materchef credit to her belt, trying to make authentic mexican street food, well she's not. I don't care how many sangrita's I have downed with tequilla.. It's not the real deal. Most of thse whom grew up with hoe cooking can tell straight away true mexican food. As with curry houses you can smell the food from the kitchen. An element that Wahacca lacks.. I get the feeling this broad spent her time at resorts in Cancun and Azatlan and never really went near a taco stand let alone a ramshackle mexican restuarant. She gets an A for effort, and a C- for food.


Although Nineteen do some killer burrito's that remind me of the ones I used to by on Hollywood and Vermont at the Car Wash. Cheap and cheerfull. As Wahacca passes Mexican off more like tapas, Meztizzo in Camden do a far better job and a
familiar scent comes from the kitchen and fills the main dinning room. To me always a good sign and alot more intimate than Wahacca. So armed with my recipes & kitchen cullinary skills I head to the kitchen to make my guy a pretty impressive Mexican meal. I do love cooking for him. He'll have to wait for my corn tamales till christmas.... Those take a day to make.