Getting back to ‘normal’

Hands up who’s use the words ‘unprecedented’ and ‘new normal’ an awful lot recently. Who knew that 2020 would pan out in quite the devastating way it has. There’s an old Jewish joke which goes ‘Want to make God laugh? Tell Him your plans’. Yes……quite.

What’s next?

As we slowly start to get up to speed again and rebuild what we once took for granted, perhaps we can reflect on what is important for us and our great little city.

Here are a few of my reflections, I’m sure you’ll have your own.

• Slowing down has been good

• Watching nature has been restful

• Supporting local businesses is more important than ever

• Appreciating our key workers like never before

• Drinks with friends aren’t the same over Zoom

I hope all of our ‘new normals’ can include supporting businesses like those in Truro Farmers Market (back today - yay!). Lots of businesses in our city are online, so if you’re not comfortable with popping into the city, you can support them from afar.

Valentines Day Solutions

What are your plans for Valentines Day? Perhaps you’ll be taking your loved one for a meal and one of the great eateries in Truro, or perhaps you’ll be popping the question, and shopping for something sparkly. Here are a few ideas for your in and around Truro - and announcing an exciting event in the summer (which would make a fantastic present for Friday)

A night at the Opera

Who doesn’t love something to look forward to when those long summer nights are upon us? A few of us have been working on a fantastic event in the grounds of Park House, just outside Truro. Duchy Opera will be performing Donizetti’s romantic comedy ‘The Elixir of Love’ on 20 & 21 June 2020 - Midsummers weekend.

Saturday will be a delicious Italian feast on long tabled created by Harbour and Field. There’ll be a horse box bar serving delicious Italian wines, Tarquins Gin, Navas Tonic and soft drinks. If you fancy dusting off your summer evening wear and coming out to play, then this event is for you.

Perhaps you’d rather come on the Sunday with the family for the Matinee performance. Bring a picnic or pre-order an Italian style picnic from Harbour and Field. For more details and to book tickets, please visit the website. We are launching the tickets today (09 Feb) and they are already selling - so don’t delay if you’d like to come!

It could be the perfect present for you!

Cards and Flowers

Whether you’re all out soppy and soft or prefer cards with a good sense of humour, there’s one for you out there somewhere. Illustrated Living always has a great selection and they’ve got gorgeous artificial flowers too. Not the fakey blue anemones that your old Aunty Glad had in a flowery vase which had faded in the sunlight (despite the net curtains). The newer blooms look just as good as the real thing. I’ve got a big vase of them in the porch and change them as the seasons go by (I don’t think my Mother in Law has noticed yet!)

Coming up roses

However, you might want a lovely bloom from a florist who can put together your partner’s favourites. Try Ellie at The Flowerpress in Lemon Street Market. And it’s like Ellie says ‘no more crap from the garage!’

What will you be doing this Friday?

Hello to Sabzi!

One of the great pleasures of writing this blog is meeting people and discovering their amazing talents. Four years ago (to the day!) I met Kate Atlee when I was invited to her house for her inaugural Persian Supper Club, she then went on to be a Quarterfinalist of Masterchef, and last night her new venture, Sabzi opened in Walsingham Place to great acclaim.

‘Sabzi’ is the Farsi word for ‘Herb’ and Kate’s vision is to bring big flavour and colour to food. Whereas we ight be tempted to use herbs as a garnish, Kate’s cooking shines a spotlight on dill, mint (dried and fresh), and of course, liberal amounts of parsley. Her Persian heritage will inform the variety of dishes in the deli and commitment to quality and obvious passion is sure to delight foodies in Truro. I’m particularly excited about her daily Dahl and I’m looking forward to trying the coffee from Rising Ground in Wadebridge.

Well done Kate - so excited for this next part of the journey!

Reproduced BELOW is the blog post I wrote 4 years ago.

A celebration of life!

First published 28 Nov 2015

This week on the Jeremy Vine show, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall from River Cottage, read out his essay on ‘What makes us human’.  Vine has had many guests on his show sharing their particular version on how we differ from animals, but Hugh’s was quite simple. It was Food and cooking. From celebration meals and the rituals of how we eat, Hugh described the very human activity of sharing food. Last week, Matthew and I shared food in a very different setting, we were invited to be part of the first Persian supper club in Cornwall, The Arjomandi Kitchen.

Supper clubs are part of a growing trend for crowdsourcing.  This social revolution is one in which we (AKA; you and I, the general public) are in the driving seat.  Think AirBnB, Uber & Crowdfunder – all non-traditional ways of obtaining goods and services. A supper club, therefore is the next logical step.  A restaurant which isn’t a restaurant.  A feast night in someone’s home.

As far as we know, supper clubs are relatively unknown in Cornwall and with a rich heritage of Persian cooking, Kate Atlee was keen to start her own.  I was introduced to Kate via a business contact, John Harvey.  John is a great connector of people and knows that Secret Truro likes to seek out new ventures and interesting events, so I was delighted to get an introduction.

It was exciting to arrive at someone’s house and not quite know what to expect.  Particularly as we didn’t know who else would be there.  We needn’t have worried, as soon as we turned up we were warmly welcomed in by Kate and her husband Will with a glass of Prosecco.   There was a delicious aroma of dinner cooking, laughter coming from the house and we soon found ourselves chatting and mingling with the other guests.  (As it happened we did know someone and then found lots of mutual friends with the other guests – after this IS Cornwall!)

Starters were served as canapes on huge platters.  Delicious Kuku sazbi – a delicious herb omelette, and Persian bruschetta topped with Aubergine and radish.  Kate was on hand to tell us all about the food we were eating and explained the importance of each dish within the Iranian culture.

We were then seated at tables for the main course, which included Ghormeh Sazbi, a lamb stew full of fresh green herbs, Khoresh e-Bademjan, a meltingly soft Aubergine and tomato stew, a traditional salad, rice and a type of Persian tzatsiki.  Kate had also made a delicious Naan Barbari which was topped with Nigella seeds.

As the wine (chosen and provided by Old Chapel Cellars) was poured and the food consumed, the conversation flowed.  Stories were exchanged, connections made and by the end of the night, someone peering in through the window would have seen what looked like a bunch of friends sharing supper together.

Pudding was in the form of Persian Love Cake, a densely beautiful cake delicately flavoured with rosewater and lime which is hard to describe (I obviously need to try this again!).  It was a good time to swap places and catch up with those you hadn’t quite had time to meet.

Kate and Will did an absolutely superb job and the welcome into their house was warm and genuine  Kate’s knowledge, passion and heritage together with superb cooking skills made for a fantastic foodie evening out.

Food can be functional, clinical even;  broken down into its component parts, protein for muscle growth, carbohydrates for energy, fluid for hydration.  But a meal, prepared with love and passion, functions in an entirely different and life-affirming way. It brings people, sometimes strangers, together where we find our similarities and differences, a place where we share experiences, celebrate success or empathise over disappointments.  Hugh was right, the cooking and sharing of food does, indeed, make us human.