Primordial Soup

Worm makes a proper Dabbler soup... Yesterday was the first properly bitter and miserable day of winter, and when it's shivery cold and I'm driving home through the gloaming, I'm always thinking about rib-sticking winter food for dinner.  This soup recipe is just the thing for cockle warming - very hearty, ... Read More...

Elberry on the Hood Rats

Following Jon Hotten's review of Hood Rat - Gavin Knight's new survey of Britain's gang culture - Elberry takes on the underclass... One of the great pleasures of living in Germany is not living in England. In Germany disaffected youths scrawl pointless graffiti and dress in bright primary colours; in England, they take ... Read More...

How to Dress for the Country

Nige prescribes the correct attire for gentlemanly perambulations... Strolling on Blakeney marshes, I couldn't help but notice that everyone I passed was kitted out for Walking, as it is conceived in these car-bound times - not walking as in the most basic natural activity known to creatures afflicted with bipedalism, but ... Read More...

Behemoths (Four different ones)

Last week Mahlerman gave us some meaty musical Behemoths to munch on, so - having already covered the specky four-eyeses – I thought it might be apt to turn to those other playground unfortunates, the fatties. Gobble-gut, garbage-guts, guzzle-guts or gully-guts – I leave it to Jonathon Green to list the ... Read More...

Book Review: Fire Season by Philip Connors

Elberry reviews Philip Connors' much-hyped chronicle of a season spotting wildfires in New Mexico... I came to this book via the usual marketing soundbites: masterwork, unforgettable, profoundly absorbing, absolutely compelling, and so on. Not many books can live up to such praise, and Fire Season: Field Notes from a Wilderness Lookout ... Read More...