Saturday 27th January 2023

Elements of the domestic burden omitted from my last entry – I forgot to mention: chimney lining project, massive expense and mess, yet to happen, haven’t been able to face it. Without linings I can’t light fires in my fireplaces. Marmalade making – massive pressure in January as always to make marm. How much longer will I be able to keep going? I’ve done three lots. Two more to go.

Robert Nevill had a star gig at the London Art Fayre, giving a discussion on Life and Art. I managed to get Press Entry so could have gone to the Champagne (prosecco) opening but was too weak as well as battling with the pizza dough. The Maharajah, as you know, is Hindu, so Vegetarian, like Rishi Sunak, the dear PM. I thought Jamie’s Deep Pizza Pie Cauliflower Cheese would be just the thing, especially in view of the cold weather. What could be more comforting than an all-white slab? Well, it rose all right – admittedly as a result of being put in the path of the blower heater on the floor. But the pizza bread aspect was unrelenting. A massive doughy expanse. What’s more I made so much was working through it for days. All January diet thoughts out the window.

Art has been the public theme for January. Lucien Freud, Winslow Homer, the London Art Fayre. My views are unacceptable, I’m afraid.

Joshua Baring attended Robert Nevill’s discussion at the London Art Fayre. He was somehow responsible for it in his new capacity as a major figure. Afterwards he produced a small plastic box containing a self-made piece of cake. It was a polenta cake, possibly from the River Cafe Cookery Book. He said he was cutting costs. The alternative was the Wolseley.  We all got a bit of the cake which was most refreshing after the rigours of being elevated by the discussion.

Briefly we visited some stands at the Art Fayre and standees dropped to the ground before Joshua Baring because he’s so influential.

Pizza dough Rising

The Finished Deep Pizza Pie Cauliflower Cheese