Serious Eats - seriouseats.com

"word nerds" and "bookworms"

Wow, sounds like you hold librarians in really high esteem. As a librarian and member of the Facebook group, I'm really disappointed that such an attitude has found a home at SE.

This bread is widespread in England and is known as tiger bread. I'm sure you can guess where I'm off to now!

The saying here in jolly ol' is "(crikey) it's Pimm's o'clock!" Very popular here, you can even get a tshirt that says that.

If you want to be authentically English, you say Pimm's and lemonade (which is more like 7up and Sprite), or simply Pimm's, not Pimm's cup.

Ice cold Sauvignon? How about simply chilled in order to enjoy the grape.

I'm looking forward to enjoying a few bottles of Vina Leyda 2007 Chilean Sauvignon Blanc at about $10 a bottle.

If you watch UKTV Food or the programmes on the BBC, or read the newspaper, you know that Matthew Fort is right on and that much food programming and writing is not aimed at people who don't know how to cook, don't want to cook, and are middle class or higher. Most people talking about food here are easily identified as "posh", (whether or not they actually are) and they talk posh - Nigella, Hugh, Gordon, Mathew Fort, Marco, Rick Stein, Nigel Slater, and even Saint Delia herself.

While Jamie is quite "Mockney" and middle class, his latest book and television series on this side of the pond - "Jamie's Ministry of Food" is directly aimed at the lower and working classes. The people shown on the new series were miners, doormen, hairdressers, and single mums on benefits. They are not people Nigella or Ina would invite over to enjoy what they've cooked.

His new mission involves teaching ordinary people how to cook simple, straight forward, and tasty dishes with fresh ingredients that are readily available and then asking them to "pass on" the recipe by teaching their friends and family. The book is full of photographs, written in an easy to understand manner, and offers loads of alternatives and ideas of how to expand on the very tasty dishes. I've yet to make a bad one from the book.

Essentially, Jamie has taken Delia's mission of "How to Cook" of 10 years ago that was aimed at the middle class, and repackaged it in a modern and updated version for (young) people who never learned how to cook and those who have been largely ignored by the food media. He is teaching people how to cook healthy meals rather than eating ready or take away meals.

I think with this project, he has gained a lot of respect and admiration in the UK. The book is amazing, and has quickly become the one in my kitchen most nights of the week.

Shepard's Pie = made with lamb mince

Cottage Pie = made with beef mince

Cumberland Pie = made with beed mince and topped with mash AND cheese

I make all the recipe variations of Dorie Greenspan's sables, wrap them in clear bags and tie with a big bow. They look so pretty all stacked up.

As I'm local to London, I often find myself at Borough Market on Friday or Saturday and enjoying a filter coffee from Monmouth as I stroll around the market.

I've never been to the proper cafe at the market (or any of the other branches), just the stall where they have the the coolest contraption for making their filter coffees - individual coffee cone filters suspended above the cups and the coffee is made to order. You're right, it is amazing!

Good tip about the bread and jam, an excuse to go to the shop!