Drain the beans well and put them into a very large, ovenproof casserole dish. Pour in water until it comes about 3cm above the top of the beans, then add the onion, carrot, whole head of garlic, herbs and pork belly (if you need to spoon out some water at this point, that is OK – you can top the dish up during cooking). Bring to the boil, then cover and simmer for about two hours until the beans are just tender, but not falling apart.

they should have had us read this in school. It consists of two letters and the letter format makes it I’ve had a hard time focussing on reading recently – too much going on in my head – but I just finished a fabulous read that transported me to France for 30 minutes each day as I read my way around each “stage” of a very special “Tour de France”. Clearly I just needed to find the right book! Felicity’s Cloake’s One More Croissant for the Road is, quite simply, a delightful escape that all Francophiles should read!I really enjoyed this collection of short stories. In other feminist sci-fi short story compilations I am home again now and happily reunited with my collection of chilli oils. Fortunately for my further education, though, I am not the only one with a renewed appetite for French flavours: Olive magazine tipped new-wave French as a trend to watch in 2019, a prediction borne out by restaurant openings including Flamboree!, an Alsatian tarte flambée joint on Old Street in east London; Bob Bob Cité, which serves up steak tartare and snails in parsley butter a mile away in Leadenhall; and La Guingette, a little piece of Paris in Bristol. Bistrotheque, in Bethnal Green, east London, is due to open a Manchester outpost later this summer. there was something I could enjoy without knowing that slimy people were behind it. I wish Gellar had more gumption about

Sometimes camping and travelling alone, sometimes accompanied by friends or family and with the luxury of a real bed to sleep in, this book is a review of meals and the cycle rides or train journeys that join them together. We follow her route from the oysters, moules, omelettes and crepes of Normandy and Brittany, south to the beef of Limoges and hot chocolate of Bayonne before she heads east to indulge in Cassoulet and Provençal fish soup, among other delights. From feasts in Lyon as she heads north to the home of mountain cheeses and choucroute in Alsace, her journey comes to a close as she cycles through Champagne country and makes her way to Paris for a well-researched croissant fest. There is no doubt this book will make you hungry as you read it and even I was surprised at how much I didn't know about the food of France. Put the chopped shallots and the cider or wine into a large pan and cook gently for 10 minutes, then turn up the heat to medium-high. These were definitely made to be watched together, so here they are. Lots of plot holes, if you give Cloake doesn’t romanticise travel but her narrative made me fall completely in love with the idea of long-distance cycling. So much so that I spent this summer building up my cycling stamina in the hope that one day I might manage a similar adventure (but probably not in France). Our recent holiday in the Lake District proved that I can cycle several days in a row, albeit not the distances Cloake covers. I’ll work up to it. Now here's a classic I never got around to watching as a teen! I'm glad I got to watch it with my kids, though.

Such a simple dish, but such a delicious one, with the added theatre of the shelling operation, of which I never tire. I like to use Norman cider and drink the rest with it, but you can use a dry white wine if you prefer. Chunks of baguette or (or preferably and) hot, salty fries to mop up the liquid are, however, mandatory.

Fry the lardons in a dash of oil over a medium-high heat until bronzed and crisp. Stir in the mustard and then the vinegar, scraping the pan, and set aside. Felicity Cloake is the author of the Guardian’s long-running weekly column How to Cook the Perfect.... as well as having been the New Statesman’s food columnist since 2011 and the author of four books with Fig Tree. She was named Cookery Journalist of the Year at the 2016 Fortnum & Mason awards and won the Cookery Journalist of the Year and New Media trophies at the 2011 Guild of Food Writers awards.I also learned more about the Chaplain of the United States Senate (and apparently, House of Representatives). I

She also squeezes in some brilliantly cheesy tourist attractions, mostly food-related, such as Mercier champagne cellars (complete with tourist train) and the cookie cutter collection in the Museum of Alsatian Life. I read this on a kindle and there wasn’t any photos or map in the book so I hope there is when it’s printed as they are desperately needed for a book such as this. It’s visual and the writing draws you along on that bike alongside her, but without the aches and pains she must have had on such a long journey. The countryside they travel through, the places the visit! Oh, I could wax lyrical about this for years. The author comes across as your friend, your ideal travel companion and breathes fresh air into the usual travelogue and guides. In fact this book is many things – a diary, an autobiography, a cook book and travel guide all in one. that it's like Pixar isn't even trying anymore and now Sony Animation is giving them a run for their money and being the I'm riding in the Cycles of Change Bike-a-thon in June. I'll be doing laps around Lake Merritt for an hour and you can One More Croissant for the Road sees ‘the nation’s taster in chief’ Felicity Cloake embark on the trip of a lifetime, cycling 3,500km across France in search of the definitive versions of classic French dishes. Felicity has long established herself as an absolute authority on everything that is important about food. This lively and charming account of her search for the ultimate Quiche Lorraine, la meilleure Tarte Tatin and a Cassoulet par excellence culminates in a triumphant two-wheeled tour of Paris’ boulangeries in pursuit of France’s finest croissant. Accompanied by charming line illustrations, each chapter concludes with Felicity putting this newfound knowledge to good use in a new ‘perfect’ recipe for each dish, the conclusion of her rigorous and thorough investigative work on behalf of all our taste buds.Fascinating and great to dip in to, the author recounts the ups and downs of an amazing foodie trip, and an impressive cycling feat, without being too chipper or annoying. A green bike drunkenly weaves its way up a cratered hill in the late-morning sun, the gears grinding painfully, like a pepper mill running on empty. The rider crouched on top in a rictus of pain has slowed to a gravity-defying crawl when, from somewhere nearby, the whine of a nasal engine breaks through her ragged breathing. it on Facebook Watch and then to Hulu, which we just recently got. A lot has happened in those 8 years and the whole last