Origins of Alcohol Part 3 – Ancient Egypt

(Also check out Origins of Alcohol Part 2) Today, let’s explore a area that most people will be much more familiar with through popular culture – Ancient Egypt!  The Ancient Egyptians were a remarkable and interesting people; Ancient Egypt is one of six known civilizations to have arisen “independently” by historians.  I find that terminology a…

Yoghurt

There’s something pretty satisfying about making food you can easily buy, like bread, butter, jam…yoghurt! This yoghurt recipe is extremely easy and makes for a fun science experiment too. I promise you won’t get sick and after about 10 hours of patient waiting, you’ll be rewarded with thick, creamy natural yoghurt. It will need a…

Shakshouka

Originating from North Africa, Shakshouka is a dish of baked eggs in a rich spicy sauce of tomatoes, peppers and onions. The sauce is prepared first, then fresh eggs are cracked and the dish is finished in the oven. The result is a really exciting way to eat eggs. I love my eggs runny and…

Egg Fried Rice

It’s 1am in Cambridge and I’m awake studying (read: procrastinating). I last ate several hours ago so I’m hungry too. I’m craving something hot and savoury. The answer is egg fried rice. This is a dish you can whip up, from start to end, in 10 minutes, and best of all, it uses ingredients that…

Fluffy Pancakes

Pancakes are a delicious breakfast food that pair well with fruit, bacon, milk, and coffee.  I love the golden-brown colour and all the variations you can do from a simple recipe.  I’ll add posts later for oatmeal pancakes, banana pancakes, chocolate chip or fruit pancakes, and various fruit sauces.  To start with, below is a great,…

Guinness Beef Stew

In June, D, myself and a group of friends went to Ireland for a short break after our end of year assessments. For 5 days we drank ourselves silly and experienced everything from singing The Rattlin’ Bog in a Galway pub to nearly dying while cycling around the Aran Islands after we misread a map and ended…

Origins of Alcohol Part 2 – Ninkasi, Sumerian Goddess of Beer

(Also see Origins Part 1) Our early story of alcohol takes us on a large jump 6000km to the west of Jiahu to what is now Iraq and Syria.  This area is called Mesopotamia (Greek for “land between rivers” referring to the Tigris and Euphrates) and is considered to be the cradle of western civilization….

Bircher Muesli

Christmas is just around the corner. This can only mean one thing: a lot of roast dinners, things with butter and sugar, and too many helpings of mulled wine. So in the lead up to Christmas, it’s probably a good idea to eat healthily and Bircher muesli is just that. Oats are full of fibre and…

Scrambled Eggs

The humble scrambled egg is one of my favourite things to eat. There are so many variations too. My grandmother used to make it in a pan with butter and the egg whisked with a little milk. The result was large curds of fluffy but substantial egg, almost like those found in an American diner….

Origins of Alcohol Part 1 – Jiahu, World’s Oldest Alcohol

There is a fundamental human physiological compulsion to satiate thirst; it is second in our compulsions only to breathing, and followed closely by food and sex – usually in that order.  Once our base need for hydration is met, what follows is the desire to explore the possibilities of taste and experience, and this is…

Shark Fin Soup

About a year ago, I decided to give up shark fin soup. It was not a momentous decision. It’s definitely nothing like giving up smoking or something that you regularly come in contact with in daily life. In fact, I’ve probably only had shark fin soup about a dozen times. But my choice to no…