Page 8 - Delicious - UK (February 2020)

YOUR

Dining room matttt s

Debora Robertson’s piece on the decline of the
dining room [Jan, p20] sparked conversation

STAR EMAIL
FROM: MARK RIGBY
Debora’s article was timely: my wife and I are
having this very debate. Do we extend the
kitchen into a kitchen/diner or keep our dining
room? We did a ‘pros and cons’ list. Pros: no
cooking smells while eating, a special-occasion
ambience, you can close the door after a dinner
and worry about the mess later. Cons: chef (me)
isolated from guests while cooking, the dining
room could become an office and so on.
The clincher, though, is that we prefer
informal relaxed suppers, with friends feeling
part of the cooking experience – not sitting kitchen. It’s small but has the advantage of
waiting in another room to be served. In 2020 allowing someone to reach for another bottle of
we’ve decided to relax more. Life is too short to wine or open the cutlery drawer without leaving
be formal in your own home. We’ll still eat their seat. It’s warmer too. As for that sense
around a table, but in the heart of the house: the of occasion, we can put a clean tablecloth on!

WHAT YOU’VE BEEN MAKING... USELESS GADGETS
FROM: TINA MCDONALD

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT Oh, how I agree with Andrew Webb’s
@hitchinfoodie suggestion to rid ourselves of kitchen clutter
Wild mushroom and [Jan, p130]. I have a dinky guillotine that slices
madeira stew
hard-boiled eggs. Takes seconds – and then a
good five minutes to wash up. The battery-
@chilliandmint
Ensenada fish tacos operated stirring spoon totters about like a *A FULL MAINLAND UK DELIVERY ADDRESS AND TELEPHONE NUMBER MUST BE SUPPLIED. ENTRANTS MUST BE OVER 18. FOR FULL TS&CS, TURN TO P126.
drunken dancer in a tutu and then falls over, PHOTOGRAPHS: ANDREW MONTGOMERY, GARETH MORGANS, TOBY SCOTT,
@sliceofsunny splattering sauce all over the hob. But the
Moroccan-spicedlambshoulder biggest waste of space has to be the electric
soup maker – a soup maker is surely someone
@leonie.1149 who just chops up vegetables and puts them
Lamb one-pot with herby
dumplings in a pan with some stock. Simple as! ISTOCK/GETTY IMAGES
Andrew is right: empty your drawers and
just get a good knife!

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