Liz D, a good friend of many of us, and a regular contributor to Freaky Trigger, was killed in the bombings in London on July 7th.
This is a compilation of links to Liz’ posts for us about food. I was planning to put together some of my favourites and put them in the essays section. Looking at them again this morning I realised they were all worth reading. They were a small part of her online presence, and a tiny part of what made her special. But they do have some of the wit, gusto and elegance that made it such a pleasure and privilege to know her. And if you didn’t know Liz, but you do know food – then prepare for a treat.
How to be a domestic goddess (Sept 04): “we spent a good and very enjoyable hour getting thorns stuck in our shins while scrambling through brambles in search of the wily blackberry, many of which we scoffed messily instead of placing safely in our capacious punnets.”
Frogspawn for the new millennium (July 04): “Adding the reserved semolina and stirring it all together in a large chunky wine glass, I congratulated myself on the creation of a fine-looking beverage and then swigged the lot.”
Mystery Meat (July 04): “Meat that looks like more or less like it did when it was walking around scares people.”
I have always enjoyed sucking bones (Feb 05): “We fitted our two together and speculated about how far along the tail they’d come from, poking fork tines curiously into the spinal canal.”
Salad for men (August 04): “Reader, I made a salad.”
Indie Chicken: probably Liz’ most famous contribution to the Publog, a series of reviews of late-night greasy chicken houses, the kind that seem horridly welcoming when the pubs shut. Further indie chicken here, here and here.
A whole kilo of MEAT: “Now, Czech cuisine really does not muck about, one good reason for visiting in winter being that you need healthy walking around in the cold to burn off the damned food.”
yuk vagonu tekerlek (Aug 04): “A strange sense of otherness swept over me, like being on holiday and eating a custard cream, only different and foreign.”
Filthy, dirty and wrong (Jun 05): “Mix peanut butter with real butter and far too much sugar, pack into tin and press down firmly. Pour melted chocolate over the top. When set, cut into bits. Fill face. Feel slightly sick.”
O emporia! O mores! (May 05): “The piles of beautifully packaged tea, the extensive range of mustards, the vats of buffalo mozzarella: all this overloads the senses like a very expensive hangover.”
And from her first post here, introducing herself:
“I like cooking and eating but am no Heston Blumenthal. I am very easily bored and thus a novelty junkie, but always return to old favourites that my granny taught me as a mere spawnling in her terribly English country kitchen. There really is no equal to gorging oneself on toast spread sumptuously with fresh guinea-fowl egg lemon curd that contains not a little of one’s own fingers, grated finely and enthusiastically along with the zest.”
RIP Liz, and thanks.