the anatomy of a fisherman's pie

There's more to the pie than meets the eye!

I love seafood and I love savoury pies; put the two together and I'm a happy diner. It's such a nice hearty, comforting meal and is perfect with a good Chardonnay on a good night in.

"not my cuppatea!"

Dark chocolate cheesecake

After a shopping day in Crawley (somewhere close to Gatwick airport), we decided to have some afternoon tea. We weren't exactly spoilt for choice (too cold to go outside the mall to find an ever so safe Starbucks), so we decided to have our caffeine fix at Druckers Café, a sister company of the Patisserie Valerie cafés in London. The pastry display looked promising and reminded me of the cosy boulangeries I loved in Geneva. So I licked my lips and ordered a cheesecake.

strada market place

So after a bit of mad (un)love for Carluccio's, I've been skeptical about going to Italian chain restaurants.

Truth be told, I’ve always been grunt-y about having Italian when dining out. The thing about this cuisine (and no, I'm not just talking about pasta and pizza) is that it's probably the easiest to prepare at home, given that you have the correct recipes and freshest ingredients. It’s a cuisine that I seem to enjoy more when eating in, perhaps because I find it unpretentious despite the fancy shmancy names (if you're Italian you won't even consider them fancy because they're pretty straightforward in translation). And because when you put a plate or of something-cine ala something-ella con something-izzi in front of me the backdrop will always change into a well-lit Italian kitchen with stonebake ovens and clay pots and pans,  with someone buzzing about a recipe handed down from generations of nonnas. Italian cuisine to me is rustic and comforting.

Italian pork sausages