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@pompomcooks

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Food Developer | Pop-Upper | Private Dining
Pockets full of snacks.

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A little change of direction 🌱

If you’ve been following me here for a while, you’ll know that food has been a very big part of my work life. I still cook, I always will, but since becoming a mum my attention has slowly shifted from what’s on the plate to what’s growing in the soil.

I’m now retraining in horticulture, studying for my RHS qualifications and spending half of the week learning on a wonderful WRAGS placement at the magical Allt y bela.

So I’ve started a new little corner of the internet: @the.hungrygardener 🌿
It’s where I’ll be sharing the gardens I’m learning in, plants I’m obsessed with, things I’m figuring out, and the slightly muddy process of starting something new with a toddler in tow.

I’ve also started a Substack, Hungry Gardener, where I’m writing a bit more about the whole journey - gardening, plants, seasons, changing careers, motherhood, and everything in between. It’s all free to read.

If you’ve enjoyed what I do here here, I’d love for you to come with me. Follow @the.hungrygardener 🌱
And don’t worry - there will still be food. Old habits die hard. x by @pompomcooks

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a month ago

Last night 165 members of the Abergavenny community, gathered in the Victorian market hall. The event was called One Big Table, an event put on by a bunch of local folk who all volunteered their time, skills and love to the community. It was indeed, one Big Table!

There was live music, bar with local artisan drinks, arts and crafts at the table, families, friends and food! So much of the incredible ingredients and props were donated by local businesses. It was an absolute pleasure to feed the community in this way. The air miles on the menu was virtually nill, the local produce so good, that I wanted to let it shine without overcomplicating it.

Nothing makes me happier than seeing people round a table together, sharing food, pouring drinks and laughing. Community, family, friends, strangers ❤️ Kids running around, elderly doing crafts, strangers passing plates. That’s what it’s all about.

I didn’t get a chance to get any pictures of the food on the night, but I cooked the same menu at home so we could enjoy it as a family.

Placemat shows the businesses that contributed in some way, but doesn’t show the long list of amazing volunteers who worked so hard, meetings, planning, WhatsApp groups and phone calls. It could not have happened without the immense efforts of all the volunteers and donations from local businesses.

Love this town and love what community can do ❤️ by @pompomcooks

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a month ago

A needed break in a peaceful yurt in Pembrokeshire with not much beyond a hammock, two toys, piles of books, an outdoor kitchen and farm animals. Long days on the beach, and a major toddler milestone: graduating from ice cream tub to cone. Wales, once again, making a very good case for chosen home.

Straight home and into my other shoes: four hours bouncing with friends to @fourtetkieran at Finsbury Park, art shows (@saatchi_gallery The Sun and the Moon - highly recommend), uninterrupted reading, coffee without ordering a babycino, getting my Chinatown supermarket fruit fix, a solo steak lunch at the bar, being anonymous for a bit…Still the nagging ache of missing the constant toddler stream of consciousness.

Motherhood, it seems, is being in exactly the right place and the wrong place at the same time. by @pompomcooks

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2 months ago

Summer, you flirt! The gift that keeps on giving.  Booking time off to sit in cold water and picnic together
Asparagus pesto and mussel pasta Girl date with the best
Seafood, chickpea, harissa stew Summer wise en prep Sticky, sweet soy chicken and braised cabbage Forage Winberry Eton mess Homemade pistachio ice cream work break BBQ every single weekend Garden tours Little strawberry picking strawberries daily Courgette, lemon zest, fresh pasta Working snacks as fresh and it gets Tell me your parent mates are over for dinner without telling me  Mango season is the best season. Breakfast - matcha sticky rice with mango and sesame Cakes for work mates Nasturstiams and mustard leaves are a good substitute by @pompomcooks

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3 months ago

New work (boots for clue), new learning, new volunteering, new rhythm, new lunch break views, two parties, bike rides, runs, picnics, day trips, evenings out…it’s been a week ❤️ and breathe.
Rhubarb, ricotta & almond cake
Lunch break with a view
New life skill 🫛
Birthday boy’s very large cake
Some kind of spring steak panzanella salad. Stale ciabatta, pea shoots, asparagus, fresh podded peas, steak, anchovy dressing
Chaotic dim sum lunch with toddler
Spring squash, butter bean, harissa roast chicken
Date night 🦪
Nettle & wild garlic frittata
Cleaver tonic for a big week from @bleu_jean_ 💚
A giant box of samosas - how I want to be greeted at all parties from now on
‘‘Tis the season of pot luck gatherings. Romesco sauce - toddlers favourite
Picky dinner picnics
First ice cream by @pompomcooks

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6 months ago

Long Easter weekend cooks 🌷
Steak & anchovy sauce. An aneamiacs dream lunch right now 🙋‍♀️
Hot x bun & sharp cheddar
Sticky date, caper & olive chicken
Crab, asparagus, wild garlic & fennel risotto
served with bitter leaf, walnut & blood orange salad
Malvern flea market ft all the old chairs that a chair-obsessed toddler could dream of
Chicken schnitzel Caesar ‘salad’
Fennel meatballs and braised lentils
Served with pickled radish, cucumber & dill salad
Roast chicken over fennel, preserved lemon & celery
Leftover sandwiches with romesco sauce and aioli
Brilliant little friends who come to stay and sous chef
Brilliant little toddler demonstrating future mise en prep skills
Whole orange and almond cake (sunshine cake) & Easter simnel truffles. Spiced dark choc and secret marzipan centres
Ricotta, goats cheese, asparagus, wild garlic & lemon tart
The mum/ work juggle with the kookiest little chick 🐥💛 by @pompomcooks

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6 months ago

March, you beauty. The month of Mama’s day (pinching, still), my birth month, an hour more of daylight, Magnolia street confetti, woods that smell of garlic, seed trays taking residency on windowsills, of Eid feats with family, taking meals outside, of a lot of fun!!

The most indulgent solo trip away, thanks to Emile. Time to be me - the giftiest of all the gifts.

Planning an @anniemacmanus @clubbingbeforemidnight for the ‘back before midnight thing’ with the best women I know, but throwing out the curfew with abandon. Recommend getting a bunch of nearly 20 women, (majority being Aries rams) together on a dancefloor.

New courses, new workshops, new beginnings that I’m looking forward to sharing in time. THIS is where the new year starts 🌱

Still dreaming about @jackson_boxer Cornish lobster tagliolii and that raw celeriac halibut at @cowleymanorexperimental 💭💘 by @pompomcooks

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6 months ago

Winter, are you done? Ready for cooking outdoors again in beautiful locations like the beautiful @theretreatllanover walled gardens. Spending most evenings at the moment curating my dream medicinal and culinary herb garden (heavily enforced by Hamnet 💔)  Also, parenting is a ride. One minute you’re seeing Underworld two nights in a row and refusing to take off your band t-shirt to preserve the (ridiculously bonkers good) memories, the next, you’re booking tickets for In the Night Garden ‘live’ by @pompomcooks

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8 months ago

Although I’ve cooked pizzas outside with a head torch on in a frosted garden this winter (great way to spice up a boring mid-week), I am over the rain and READY for some sunny pizza parties again.

Here’s my tandoori prawn pizza with sweet pickled fennel, developed for @ooni.uk . I suggest dunking it into a side of garlicky ghee. You can get the recipe and see me cooking up by searching through the Ooni archives 🍕 by @pompomcooks

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8 months ago

Some recent work with a great client has now got me digging through the archives…

Here’s some shots with @ooni.uk for my Chaat Potato Salad. The video on how to make it is on the Ooni YouTube channel. Video shot by the brilliant @clementhodgkinson . Cooking (and posing) at dreamy @little_mill_abergavenny by @pompomcooks

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9 months ago

A bit of the end of last year and very beginning of this one 💖

A cosy, off-grid cabin became our New Years bolthole. Zero signal, wood-fired hot tubs in the snow, saunas under a Wolf moon, murmurations at dusk, up with the song thrushes, reading books out loud instead of tv, making dens, snow-dusted Devon Moors, a nice long social media cleanse and time to reevaluate what’s important for the fresh year 💚

Eating highlights: duck Xmas dins, almost as many bottles of champagne as days in the week, oysters for breakfast (baby too), lobster surf ‘n’ turf which I didn’t get to eat half of because babs is a lobster monster, @nicolaalamb EXCEPTIONAL Yule log - maybe best choc dessert I’ve ever made, crab toast and fizz breakfast, annual chocolate salami, cheeseboards still going strong into mid Jan. by @pompomcooks

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9 months ago

Happy Solstice friends. Here for the returning of the light, here for lighting morning fires, here for eating for your heart.
And if you’re into Christmas cake…swing on over because this year I made a rectangular one at a modest 1.5ft long. Neighbours and friends, you know what’s coming your way, even if you’re a fruitcake-hater (are you ok?)
Been feeding this one for almost two months now, skipped the fondant icing and had a whole lot of fun decorating it ✨ (marzipan still obligatory) by @pompomcooks

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10 months ago