Indian Cookery Course in the Cotswolds

Making sag aloo on the Indian Cookery Course

I’ve enjoyed a couple of cookery courses this year, and when I saw the range of classes on offer at The Foodworks Cookery School, it was an Indian cookery course that caught my eye. The cookery school is located on the edge of the Colesbourne Park Estate, between Cheltenham and Cirencester, in the Cotswolds.

It’s the first time I’ve been to The Foodworks and it was fairly easy to find. The converted barn was brightly lit and welcoming on a dark October evening. I was warmly greeted at the reception desk with a glass of wine and a Foodworks apron, then ushered through to the kitchen.

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Exploring London’s East Side

Cheese at Borough Market

Usually when I’m visiting London, I’m on a mission, whether work related or catching up with friends or family. But recently I had an opportunity to spend a day making the most of the city, with no agenda apart from to indulge my favourite pastimes of eating, street art and photography. I stayed around London’s east side, rather than going into the centre.

Here are my top 5 recommendations for things to do on London’s east side:

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Shoreditch Street Art Tour

Mr Cenz on the Shoreditch Street Art Tour

I had a Saturday afternoon free to myself in London and wanted to make the most of exploring a different side to the city. I have trained in and out of Liverpool Street station countless times over the years, but never explored the surrounding areas of Spitalfields and Shoreditch. I took a Shoreditch street art tour to find out what gives this newly fashionable area, its beating heart.

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Lip Smacking Foodie Tour of Las Vegas

Escargots at Brasserie Bardot, Lip Smacking Foodie Tour of Las Vegas

As a first time visitor, searching for the best things to do in the city of sin, it was a foodie tour of Las Vegas that jumped out and tickled my taste buds. Exploring a destination by its food offerings is often the best way to get to know a place.

Known as a gambling mecca the world over, it’s a little known secret that Vegas is fast becoming a foodie destination. While the who’s who of celebrity chefs are queuing up to open restaurants in Sin City, I discovered Lip Smacking Foodie Tours offers the inside track on the best places to dine.

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Me and Mum on a Cooking Holiday in Italy

Making soffrito

Mum and I usually plan an overseas trip together once a year. Considering one of our favourite mother and daughter holiday pastimes is seeking out the best places to eat, or wandering around markets to try out local produce, why wouldn’t I think a cooking holiday in Italy might be just the ticket?

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Visit to Cotswold Lavender

Cotswold Lavender Farm

Seeing Carol Kirkwood, from BBC Breakfast, giving her weather forecast under grey skies at Cotswold Lavender this morning, I realised how lucky I was to visit the lavender farm last week on the hottest day of the year.

I made my journey that day as I knew it was close to harvest time and didn’t want to miss the lavender at its peak.

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Glasgow City Break

Glasgow Street Art

It’s over 25 years since Glasgow was named as the European City of Culture, yet the city is bursting with more culture now than ever before. In fact National Geographic has named it one of the top 20 best places to visit in the world for 2016. This buzzy destination is home to an outstanding collection of museums and galleries (mostly free entry), a world-class music scene and a fascinating mix of historic and contemporary architecture. On their Glasgow city break, Mrs & Mr Jones discovered all this, alongside fabulous shopping, hotels and restaurants.

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Indian Cookery Masterclass: Street Food

Amritsari Fish at East India Cafe

When I was invited along to East India Café’s Indian cookery masterclass afternoon, I couldn’t believe my luck. It sounded to me like a perfect Sunday afternoon – eating, chatting and learning new recipes.

East India Café sits on The Promenade in Cheltenham. It’s not your usual Indian curry house; it serves Anglo-Indian food with cuisine harking back to the days of the Raj. Being an Indian Summers fan, and having enjoyed the trials and tribulations of Ralphie, Cynthia, Afrin et al, I was keen to understand more about the food of the times.

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Foraging in the Forest

Wild ramson soup with poached duck egg

It was a snowy, April morning when I set off towards the Forest of Dean for my first official foraging in the forest experience. I was a bit concerned about getting stuck in a snowdrift en route and wondered how we were going to forage beneath the white stuff, but as I neared the little village of Clearwell, I was surprisingly relieved the rather large flakes had turned to drizzle.

I received a warm welcome at Tudor Farmhouse, a boutique hotel tucked into the village, and was introduced to our guide for the morning, Mr Raoul van den Broucke.

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Cheltenham Festival in Windows

Cheltenham Festival Montpellier

The four day Cheltenham Festival is the biggest jump racing festival in the UK, where top horses, jockeys, trainers and owners battle it out on the track at Prestbury Park to win over £4.1 million in prize money.

This particular week in March is the most exciting of the year to be in Cheltenham, when the town dresses up to look just as good as the best dressed race-goers. Recent figures suggest the Festival brings in £100 million to the Cheltenham economy (University of Gloucestershire). This is not surprising when hotels, restaurants and bars are bursting at the seams.

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