Make

Tweet a recipe

Matt — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 19:23:05 +0000

140 character recipes. Perfect for cooking when you’ve no computer in the kitchen

Pork crackling from Mark Hix
Heat oven200C. Cut 1kgporkrind into strips. Boil 15m. Drain, scatter w/csalt, roast1hr, turnevrysooften.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2009/mar/29/twitter-recipes

Kent County Council embraces Service Design

Matt — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 09:28:10 +0000

“The Social Innovation Lab for Kent (SILK) was set up in 2007 with two ambitions. First, to provide a creative environment for a wide range of staff to work together on some of the toughest challenges the county faces. And second, by drawing upon best practice from business, design and social sciences sectors, as well as our own experiences here in Kent, SILK set out to establish a way of working that places it’s citizens at the very centre.”

The project’s been nominated for a Brit Insurance Design Award 2009. Strangely it’s in the graphics category, probably on account of the deliverables, but to me this fails to reflect the thinking or outcomes of the Service Design process. In commercial terms their process is akin to product development rather than graphic communications and it’s a shame that’s not recognised as such.

SILK is a collaboration between Kent County Council and Engine

In flight food

Matt — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 23:25:26 +0000

Cultural diversity expressed through an in-flight menu. England well represented with it’s own bland category.

Courtesy of CityJet

The best of February eating

Matt — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 19:34:20 +0000

A rather short list this month. Lentils featured heavily.

Memorable.

Saturday lunch Chicken Livers at Tierra Brindisa
Spiced Lentils as recommended by Ottolenghi. So good its now replaced the trusted Delia Smith version.
A midweek roasted lambs heart with lentils.
A saturday steak medley from the Ginger Pig in Hackney.
A midweek Spiced Crab with family at Gourmet San

Neither memorable nor terrible were visits to the Pogo Cafe and Green Papaya. I’d try Green Papaya again despite the pretty average first experience and Pogo do a great cup of coffee. Most suprising bwol of the month was Fish Head and Tofu soup at Gourmet San, a meal or one-too-many offcuts for me.

My Urbanspoon wishlist

Matt — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 14:48:55 +0000

After trying several of the social networks for restaurant go-ers I settled on Urbanspoon. It was the simple stuff that won me over, the been-to / wanna-go-to list and the reviews not only by users but foodie blogs and newspaper articles. Neither that revolutionary but they’re missing from the likes of Qype and TrustedPlaces which only use community content. It’s been a few months and I’ve started appearing in the charts, (something unexpected and wasn’t looking for now am suddenly competitive over) I’ve also started reviewing and taking photographs, both things that mean I’m spending more time on the site and leading me to now want more from it.

Recommendations please. There’s currently none. It’s all based on ratings which gets you some way but I have to do a lot of filtering to find the places I’m interested in. If venues could be tagged then over time you can use my profile to suggest places that are not only highly rated but also ‘informal’, ‘local’, ‘east london’ or whatever came up.

Introduce me to people. Not to eat with, just to casually link to. Maybe people who live near me or regularly eat similar types of food, kinda like twitter following.

Help with sharing. For the one friend I have (see point 2) it’s tricky to share and discuss stuff. Pushing me to email breaks the experience. When I’m there I want to open up conversation in the page, maybe even open it up to others. Even just a way to send restaurant or booking details to friends via facebook would be nice.

That’s a shortlist. There’s others but these would be lovely and if you want to encourage more of it then UserVoice is pretty cool.

Cheque please

Matt — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 12:56:54 +0000

A folded bill says we don’t care. The American Express wallet tries to say expensive but just reminds you they take cards. A few sweets means we’ve thought about it but not enough to invest more than a cheap mint. Then occasionally there’s the little printed card that says we’re modern and have taste but really only serves to justify the expensive water.

That’s all okay. Receiving a bill isn’t a suprise. I’m prepared for it, and unless you made the prices up on the menu I’ve probably an idea of what it’s going to cost.

The problem is that unless it’s half the price I expected, it’s a dead moment, weighed down by calculating who owes what and the acceptable percentage for service.

Instead it should be an opportunity to for a final ‘aha’ moment. A way to reinforce what the service and experience is about. Start by who cooked your food, maybe what their background is and if they have an award then tell them, how about where some of the ingredients came from and where to buy them, maybe even a simple recipe on the back that your customers can try at home. Just choose something appropriate that reinforces your principles and if you are expensive, maybe justifies the extra cost.

It really can be something else. Something to talk about once you’ve left, maybe to keep as a memento and most importantly, something to make you go back.

The best of January eating

Matt — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 19:09:48 +0000

Unfortunatley not a great month. A trip to Islington farmers market early on was a reminder of just what little good stuff is available to eat in the depths of winter. That said, it does provide you with some of the best comfort eating moments of the year.

Memorable,

Pork & Beef meatballs with minus temperatures outside
Takeaway spicy pizza and an introduction to Rock Band
Sunday morning fruit and granola at The Albion
Friday night chinese without a hint of MSG at Gourmet San in Bethnal Green
Cavolo Nero, Wet Polenta and Mushrooms in red wine at The Clerkenwell Kitchen
Home made sandwiches and rediscovering how good raw onions are with cheese.

Dissapointing

My first beef tripe at The Imperial China
A ’served from the fridge’ Game Pie at the Boot and Flogger
Service station doughnuts. Never, ever again.
All the wrong things (Moru Kachiathu, Beet Cheers Pachadi, Bagar Baingan) from N16 Rasa Tandoori, but I’d still go back.

Remember every interaction…

Matt — Sat, 03 Jan 2009 23:54:51 +0000

In a moment of weakness a friend recently signed up to the British Red Cross through a street vendor. A week later he received this card from the woman who talked him round.

I don’t see this level of service from my bank, landlord, insurers, accountant etc and they take considerably more than a fiver a month from me. I’ve heard investment banks struggle to do this for clients that spend 7 figure sums every year.

A small commitment to remember a few points from a 5 minute conversation goes a long way. That’s service.

The best of December eating

Matt — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 14:20:28 +0000

Good bits

Oxtail casserole and a 1930’s world cup board game.
Pre-christmas roast goose and first attempt confit and terrine.
After dinner chocolate truffles and coffee (whilst drunk).
‘Too many bananas’ banana cake and the cinema.
Christmas eve Beef Wellington with Welsh Rare Black Beef.
Hangover Oysters.
A sunday night Jalfrezi from Ganges Tandoori.

Bad bits

My first Thai Green Curry at home. Sorry Nigel.
Chicken Soup from a boiling chicken (To be revisited)
Shin of beef casserole. (Should have bought it on the bone)
Hangover juice at Pure California.