The Forum Blog
Pear, Walnut & Gorgonzola Salad
Lots of what passes as salad in my home is really a diabolical dishes disguised by the words ‘light lunch’ meaning we will have it when it is light outside, that’s all.
What you do when your year turns out to be a lemon?
As 2020 turned out to be a proverbial lemon, I decided as the saying goes to make the most of it. Refreshing as an addition to your summer lemonade or as an ‘amuse bouche’ but I like it on its own as a light dessert after a meal, cleans and refreshes the palette. This dessert […]
British Summertime Blues
Blueberry Cobler Whilst I love the theory of baking, the reality is a nightmare of equipment and mess in the sweltering heat in the kitchen rather than the garden in our hammock. 2020 really has put things in perspective, for myself at least and anything too complicated is swiftly scratched of my culinary dance card. […]
Mexican tomato & bean soup
This fresh, piquant summer soup combines many of the ingredients you might find in a feisty salsa, but in this case they re all souped up. Add more chillies if you like it hot, and a handful of fresh sweetcorn kernels, sliced straight from the cob, is a good addition if you have them. A scattering of diced avocado can replace the soured cream, if you prefer.
Amen Ramen – Some like it hot!
OK, so we entertain a lot and we do not have time or inclination to get into canapés, starters, main, etc etc. Truly nobody does and although everything has its time cooking for me should not be a stress rather a pleasure and so I am always after how to get the biggest culinary bang […]
Courgette & Parmesan Fries
From all the delicious classic dishes in the clubs repertoire I find that the one thing that people often refer to me as their cheeky favourite is our crispy parmesan coated courgette fries. I know that in bikini season, it is a sin to meander off the salad and the juice mantra but ‘hey ho’ this year really does not count on my calorie counter. As it is basically a vegetable, it’s carb free and I am soo chalking this down as one of my five even if some crispy parmesan accidentally got stuck on it in the process.
Cracking Secrets, for Savoury Biscuits
In the meantime I have had a blissful time making their recipe suggestions, including these wonderful biscuits (Americans would say crackers) that are fantastic with cheese or all alone as a snack, they keep for days, weeks, even, I assume – though they have never lasted long enough to find out.
Gado Gado
Gado Gado, ‘mix mix’ was voted in 2018 as one of Indonesias national dishes, many other Asian cultures offer a similar version of this dish, this is my preferred culinary mix
No-Churn Ice-Cream, Rum & Raisin
I scrapped the rest of the list and thought I would simply do what makes me happy, it turns out what makes me happy lives in my freezer shhhh, tell no one, home made rum & raisin ice cream therapy today, I promise to clean tomorrow, now please leave I don’t need you to see this!
A Case For Quesadillas
When the indigenous people of central Mexico, came across the Spanish settler’s larder in the mid 16th century, their sweet baked pumpkin tortillas, found new fillings by way of cheese and sheep, lamb & cow. These became known as the quesadilla, literally translated to ‘cheese (queso) little thing’. Its versatility has ensured instant and more importantly, enduring popularity.
Coastal Comfort Potted Shrimp
Many classics, such as pies, smoked meats, pickles and indeed the potted shrimp are all a product of resourcefulness and the inventiveness of people in the past to extend produce seasonality, availability with these simple preserving methods.
Mussels In A Garlic Butter Sauce
Mussels In A Garlic Butter Sauce My mum cooked this often and she served it with dad’s own, home baked sourdough bread. I buy a fresh loaf and I cheat by warming it up in the oven and pretending I am back on the island waiting for all to gather around for a BIG FAT […]
Georgia on my mind
There is a taste of place that you cannot replace. But we try, we try! We are at home and cannot travel, but we miss, we miss! Friends and open roads and hot foreign skies, the whispering of cathedral canopies in forests, murmuring sea shores, a rough wooden tables laden with dishes and label-less bottles of wine, all empty.
Potentino Minestrone
Potentino Minestrone for 6-8 Please note that left over minestrone is better so add more Ingredients if you wish Cavolo Nero 200 g Pumpkin 100g Mushrooms 100g Tinned Tomato 1 can Zucchini 100g Potato 100g Dried Cannellini or Borlotti Beans 100g (Ingredients depend on season – traditionally these soups are made with […]
World Press Freedom Day
World Press Freedom Day The Covid 19 pandemic gives a new twist and perhaps a new urgency to World Press Freedom Day. For 27 years the UN day of action has been a way of reminding the world about the importance of press freedom and the pressures on independent journalism around the world. For […]
Lockdown Recipe – Sourdough Bread
by Heathcliff O’Malley, Photographer Sourdough Bread Recipe I first started making sourdough bread in late 2018 . A bakery had moved into the area but the holes in the bread were so enormous that all the marmalade and butter were falling through my breakfast toast and it was really annoying me and I decided […]
A Revolution in Four Seasons
The film, first released in May this year, follows four years in the parallel political lives of Jawhara Ettis and Emna Ben Jemaa – two women at the centre of Tunisia’s radical turn to democracy during the 2011 Arab Spring.
Kleptoscope Two: The Alchemy of Making Money from Sand
The second evening in the Kleptoscope series explored the illicit wealth originating from the Middle East that flows through the capital’s economy.
Irregular War: The Future of Global Conflicts
‘If we’re trying to actually resolve conflict… then we have to think, how do we get into the mind of the other?’ Gabrielle Rifkind.
Breaking Point: The EU Referendum and its Aftermath
There are some things about Brexit that we simply can’t know. No amount of opinion pieces, panel discussions, or leaked memos will change that. As Iain Macwhirter, a political commentator for the Herald and Sunday Herald, quipped, ‘We all know that Brexit means Brexit, but nobody knows what Brexit means!’ So, what does Brexit mean?
A Country in Motion: Films from Burma
“The fact that we can even make these films is representative of the change in this country,” said Lamin Oo, speaking to a full Frontline Club from Burma. Oo is one of his nation’s predominant emerging filmmakers and of the many talents being showcased at the Frontline Club’s ‘A Country in Motion: Films From Burma’ […]
Drones: National Bird of USA
National Bird is a documentary about the effects of drone warfare conducted by the US in Afghanistan as part of its war against terrorism. It also incidentally became a documentary on whistleblowing. Drone pilots Lisa, Heather and Daniel reveal how drone warfare, presented as efficacious and selective, is much more liable to error than US officials are […]
Groundtruth: 0% of US TV coverage of the election had to do with policy
Just days before the result of the 2016 US Presidential Election, Boston-based foreign news organisation GroundTruth took part in a panel debate on the question of media credibility. In town for a team meeting, Charles Sennott and Gary Knight, founders of GroundTruth, shared their commitment to training up-and-coming talent in global correspondents in an age when […]
The blood flow of the global economy
‘These came by ship,’ journalist Rose George remarked in the opening minutes of the film, casting her eyes over her clothes, ‘my shoes probably came by ship, the microphone certainly…’ The device you’re using to read this blog probably did too: 90% of everything we consume arrives in a shipping container.
Unconstitutional abortion laws highlighted by documentary
Director Dawn Porter was a lawyer before she was a filmmaker. Her film, Trapped, is about the impact of abortion regulation on clinics in southern US states. It’s rare to have a story where the main plot is legislation, but it works, and it’s heart-breaking.
A conversation with Patrick Cockburn
Each conflict is nuanced, its history and its fanatics. We, as consumers of entertainment, are taught to laud our heroes and demonize our villains, forgetting that the real world breeds only people and their overlapping interests.
Violent Borders: Border Conflict, Security and the Refugee Crisis
In the absence of legitimate methods of travelling to safer lands, smugglers enjoy a booming trade with a huge supply of refugees willing to pay to escape their home country. Elinor Raikes discussed the irony of a system that refuses entry actually increases risk: “you’re pushing people into these illegal, uncontrolled, unmanaged routes, and actually it’s worse for our security.”
Displacement and demography: Colombia
“Not quite the evening we thought we were going to have”, began Ed Vulliamy, journalist for The Guardian and The Observer. A talk that was expected to celebrate the formal end to 52 years of civil war, ended up examinging why a much celebrated peace deal between the Farc and the Colombian government was rejected in a public referendum.
The Nauru files: changing the narrative of media coverage on refugee issues
“It is very hard for Muslim girls to live in Burma. For the boys it is not so dangerous. They just get killed,” said the first girl, 13. “I consumed washing detergents… poison… I’m so tired of everything,” said the second girl.