Some dates for your diary
A craft chocolate fair, Another Pantry's market pop up, pre-orders for a book you will absolutely want to buy, plus Thankgsiving preview lunch and a visit to Kayu.
This week’s Delicious Things
The most exciting book to preorder
A Thanksgiving meal recommendation (invite)
A chocolate fair in London for your diary
Another Pantry’s Market date for your diary
A brief visit to a new Mayfair bakery
I spent a lot of time judging chocolates for the World Final round for the International Chocolate Awards last week. I had so many other things I planned to do before getting to it, but I kept seeing the labels and thinking “ooh, Philippines with rum, I need to know what that tastes like NOW”.
I had some seriously intense dreams from all of the chocolate consumption, just like I did in Paris.
You don’t need to attend a cacao ceremony (yes, this is a thing), you can just eat a lot of fine chocolate in one day and it’ll definitely open up the chakras in the same way. 😳😵💫
Eating chocolate usually makes me joyous and enthusiastic about everything. I find the difference noticeable and the absence of it afterwards even more so. I tried to taper the amount I was eating each day so that the withdrawal wouldn’t hurt.
It’s emotional as well as physical (headaches, sometimes) and this week felt heavy.
I keep writing about brilliant things people in the food industry are doing because I want to honour the work that individuals and teams put into creating things to bring you joy, because without joy then there is also no life worth living.
I believe we can take the action within our power- and maybe beyond - towards eradicating hate, whilst also creating and spreading more joy. ❤️
Speaking of the brilliant work of individuals:
a brilliant book which you are probably already aware of 😁 :
Nicola Lamb’s Sift.
Compared to me ten years ago, I rarely bake (I’m usually buying things too frequently to have the capacity and most days if I notice I might have the time and lack of sweet things at home to justify baking, the idea of following a recipe just sounds a bit… much 🫣).
I still subscribe to and love reading
’s weekly Substack because her writing is like music to my eyes and I also love her deep dives into the chemisty and specificity of ingredients and methods.Now she’s bringing it all to a book, with recipes.
It’ll be out next May and pre-orders will hugely help her. Not to be blasphemous, but I can already tell this book will become a bible for baking lovers and at £30 I feel like you’ll be getting incredible value.
I’ve eaten baked goods from Nicola’s recipes many times (made by her or others) and - despite what I said above - have even made one of them - her oat chocolate sandwich biscuits - myself (several times - they’re so good!). Every singly things has been beyond fabulous.
You can pre-order Sift here. (Amazon affiliate link.)
This is what lifted my mood this week: