Gazetteer: Mercado de San Miguel, Madrid

Mercado de San Miguel is a real foodie haven in the middle of Madrid, and was a real find. A historic Art Nouveau covered market that dates back from 1911, the Mercado is now teeming with sellers, purveyors and food stalls selling hot squid ink and salt cod croquettas, oysters from the Atlantic coast and a dizzying array of delicious pintxos served with glasses of bubbling Cava. There are also specialist stores selling Jamon, Bread and pastries, wine fruits and vegetables (including Cacao pods) and a fishmonger selling the famous Percebes from Galicia, as well as all sorts of sea urchins, crustacea and flat fish.
Well worth checking out if you are in Madrid, it gets very busy at the weekend and at lunchtimes.

Blogspotting and falling behind

For those of you that follow my erratic blogging, I have to apologise for not updating the stream of colour and food porn voyeurism that I so love to engage myself with. I'm conscious it's been a while, but work demands and a birthday that has come and gone have kept me way from writing and posting up photos. I have added a few posts from a trip to Madrid, and have more to come. And not just travel stuff, recipes too...
I hope you like what I post, or continue to post.. feel free to say hi!
Steven

Thomas Schutte at Museo Reina Sofia

Tapas at La Casa del Abuelo

Tapas at La Casa del Abuelo

I found this place near to my hotel in Madrid, it was around 10.30pm and my friend Sebastian and I decided to stop, take a look inside and have tapas here. It was packed, and we waited ages for a table - pressed tantalisingly against the counter, watching plate after plate of delicious morsels be assembled, and waft past our eyes. After a long wait we sat hungry and light-headed from the Rose wine, and greedily ordered lots of dishes from the menu.
From peering over the counter, I could see so many delicious treats, all lined up in dishes ready to be eaten: plump prawns in their raincoats, fresh seasonal asparagus, crab claws, oily chorizo, pink prawns from the Mediterranean, squid, Iberico ham, and plates of crisply fried Patatas Bravas.

CaixaForum - Madrid

This is the stunning CaixaForum building in Madrid, built by the architects Herzog & DeMeuron.

Chiquita goes bananas!

Brooklyn, NYC

Edible Manhattan - food publishing cool

I came across this magazine a year or two ago, and have to say it is right up there in front, as the arbiter of food culture and food cool in Manhattan. I love the articles, unpretentious writing and fashion-cum-rock 'n' roll photography. The covers are awesome (they remind me of Face magazine somehow), and I feel they truly capture the spirit of the Manhattan food scene, without the pretentious foodie bullshit that is rife in other food publications.

If anyone at Edible wants a London voice - do get in touch...

(An Ode to Hannah) Lavender Shortbread

Well this isn't a poem, nor a recipe really (well technically it is, but I don't remember it), but it's simply a shortbread made with lavender flowers. I am galloping ahead to summer here - but until the lavender flowers are abundant, you can use dried lavender from Provence if you are fortunate enough to get your hands on some. As I mentioned earlier, I'm not much of a baker, I have to say, I made these (whilst channeling some of Hannah's style), and couldn't get over how easy, but how exquisite these perfumed biscuits really are. Delicious for a fancy afternoon tea, or perfect as a present - if you want to go that bit further and wrap them in a bit of silly paper. Unfortunately mine got scoffed before I had even contemplated sharing them.

Union Square Farmer's Market, New York City

Gramercy Park, New York City

Gramercy Park really is where I think I belong (well if I had a spare few million dollars or 10). It oozes a serious amount of salubriousness, and 1920's panache. It is framed by exquisite architecture, and the park itself is home to a few languid sculptures.

I had the fortune of resting up at the Gramercy Park Hotel - which I have to admit I rather enjoyed, particular the Rose Bar, resplendent with a Picasso (surely it's a fake), and sawfish body parts masquerading as objet d'art.

Best of all, I got to hang out with a great friend, Luc, who is perhaps the most sartorially gifted man in Manhattan. Good times.

Gramercy, I miss you.

Union Square Farmer's Market, New York City

On a recent business trip to New York, I found myself jet-lagged and in need of early morning cultural stimulation. Well the Farmer's Market on Union Square didn't disappoint. I was bowled over by the riot of colours, and crate after crate of jewel coloured carrots, exuberant lettuces and barrels of luscious peaches.

I've never seen such beautiful produce - most of it, if not all of it grown on farms in New York State or Connecticut, and it's certainly worth getting up that bit earlier to watch the vendors unpack and set up their stalls for the day. Check out the link for more details.

http://www.grownyc.org/greenmarket