Gordon White

London life skills learnt the hard way. Also recipes for some reason.

Recipe: Tarte De Pâques

Don’t let my extreme cultural insensitivity stop you. This is delicious served warm/room temperature and finished off with a nice glass of vin santo.

Consider this the Total Recall look. (Think about it.)

That’s A Whole Quarter Of A Year??

Blogs are like children. You do actually have a favourite one. And this is my recessive ginger blog.

Google's inaugural Think Publisher event last week

Butternut Curry For Dinner So You Can Have A Nice Lunch For Once

I ate this cold straight from the fridge but then I am as urbane and sophisticated as a NASCAR pit man.

It really does not feel like four months since I cooked this. Hope the rest of those lentils are okay.

Genoese Squid For People Who Never Cook Season

This recipe is Genoese-inspired, from Diana Henry’s life changing book, Food From Plenty. The dish is for people who -like me- actually really like seafood but never really cook it because they’re too chicken shit.

Radish And Olive Salad For A Confusing Detox

In between catching up with business partners, family and friends over the new year there are evenings at home spent crying into my XXXL muumuu about how much weight was gained over Christmas.

How To Return To Polite Society

Posted by Gordon White

So yes, it’s been a while.

This is both a good thing and a bad thing. Bad because a societal hiatus of longer than four months and you start to hoard homemade marmalade and buy television show-themed ouija boards off the internet.

But good because you get a chance for a do-over. One that you have planned for a long time… A long time.

Here’s what I have learned.

1. Sort Out Your Commute

I could walk to work at Discovery Channel because it was -and still is- in the absolute ass end of fucking nowhere.

Which is about twenty …

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And The Rest Is Silence

Posted by Gordon White

This morning I woke up feeling good, relaxed… Almost youthful. I thought it must have been because the sun was out -and that’s certainly part of it.

The other part of it is that this is apparently the first time British airspace has been completely shut down. Ever.

And it’s quiet.

These are photos taken from the outdoor chair that I pulled into my yard to doze on. I couldn’t be bothered/had too much cider to stand up so please ignore the composition.

Please also notice that not only are there no planes in the sky, there are …

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Cheapskate Macaroni

Posted by Gordon White

Been a while since I put a recipe up but this just couldn’t be missed. Actually, I thought about calling this dish Deliaroni because it’s an EVEN LAZIER version of Delia’s mother’s macaroni recipe from How To Cheat At Cooking.

For those of you outside the UK who may not have heard of Delia, she is the country’s most famous food witch and ardent football fan, as well as being some kind of Christian or something. (So, one out of three, then.)

Anyway, like the rest of the country, I absolutely adore her… Even if she has steered …

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Starting Your Own Renaissance: An Insider’s Guide

Posted by Gordon White

I have a trip to Florence planned for this Fall so I am reading about the Renaissance. Looking into how it actually started, a number of things occur to me.

Firstly, that it’s possible to have your own personal renaissance. Secondly, that this is probably a really good thing to do. And thirdly, that global economic conditions for a personal renaissance have never been better in your entire lifetime.

So read on!

One day soon, you too could have your own bird in a hat and some puffy shorts that attract small dogs.

How These Things Begin

The proper Renaissance…

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The Future Tastes Funny But You Should Still Eat It

Posted by Gordon White

The thing about the future is that it always seems off in the distance. Oliver Wendell Holmes said “old age is fifteen years older than I am”. It’s like that. Which is how they both sneak up on you, of course.

I remember giving a talk in Wellington to a bunch of screenwriters about the future of scripted content a couple of years ago. The exact date escapes me because I am into my ninth day of severe ManFlu and can only just remember how to exit my tiny, unruly bedroom to refill my water bottle for the fiftieth time. …

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Brighton Interrupted

Posted by Gordon White

Because the Met Office once again swung and missed with its weekend weather prediction (flooding), I opted not to take my camera with me on a little overnight trip to Brighton.

Of course, this meant that the Monday turned into the warmest day of the year with beautiful blue skies and an English Channel that didn’t look like it was 43% human feces.

So these are phone photos. But Brighton is cute and fun and I can’t wait for Phil to get his act together and move into a permanent home down there with a spare bedroom.

I just can’t …

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How To Fail At London Tourism -By An Expert

Posted by Gordon White

My first recommendation would be to make plans with a one Megan Lloyd, like I did yesterday. Then personally suggest and execute a string of alternative options based along London’s least reliable tube line. Then realise the expedition needs a complete do-over and try again the next day. Creepy Instant nachos optional.

Let’s begin at the beginning.

Megan’s on half-term at the moment and I certainly don’t have anything going on so we arranged to meet on Friday morning at Embankment to entertain ourselves with a little walking tour called ‘Eccentric London‘.

The tour was due to start …

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Ye Olde Roade Trippe

Posted by Gordon White

Ahh, the curse that is my life. I am once again trapped in the country for insurance reasons so rather than doing something to alleviate this powerful case of SAD I am constantly complaining about -something like five days in Sharm- instead I opted for something a little closer to home.

Yorkshire. In February.

And not just February. It was officially The Week When Everything Is Closed. Yorvik -which only closes for three days every year- was closed for our three days in York. The Captain Cook Museum in Whitby? Closed. Whitby Abbey? (As seen/read in Dracula.) Closed.

Who …