Anissa's Blog

I still remember the day clearly. I was at the Oxford Symposium on Food and Cookery and Tom Jaine had just beaten me to buying a beautiful tripiére at the bring & buy stand. We started talking about offal and I told him I was keen to write a book about it. Tom thought it was a great idea…

Well, following Charles Perry’s brilliant post about the use of mastic in savoury cooking, we had a discussion about where mastic was produced. I initially thought it came from other places than Chios. However, Magda corrected me and told me that the Pistacia lentiscus in the southern part of Chios were the only trees that produced mastic. So, you can…

Today I went to my favourite Lebanese shop in London, Zen in Moscow Road, to shop for a lunch I am cooking for friends on Sunday. I love going there, especially at this time of the year because of all the seasonal produce they bring in from the home country. Not quite locavore but irresistible. They had…

Time for a little lighthearted entertainment and this month I am bringing you Marilyn Monroe as a belly dancer. Well, she is not quite Marilyn Monroe but a Turkish dancer who is trying very hard to look like her. Somehow, I don’t think of Turkey in my search for belly dancers but from what I…

I think I am addicted to travelling. I am not sure which I like most. The excitement of discovering new places and new foods? Or the fun of meeting new people who often become new best friends? Or just revisiting places and people that I love? I returned from China with plenty of great stories…