When my parents left me a small modern house near the North Yorkshire resort of Filey, in early 1997, my instinct was to sell. I had been living in south London for 25 years and the 500-mile round trip made it unfeasible as a weekend retreat. But before selling, my wife and I decided to use the house for a long summer holiday. At the start of our break, we received a surprise invitation to share a house in Malibu. It may seem insane to reject such an offer but, as we walked on the sand of Filey Bay with the North Sea crashing ashore in great breakers, my wife said, "How could it be any better?"
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Green shoots: Mark Hix celebrates the first asparagus of the season
Saturday 24 March 2012
Their appearance is a sure sign that spring is on the way.
DVD: Take Shelter (15)
Friday 23 March 2012
Steven Spielberg has thrown the kitchen sink, particularly visually, at this animated Tintin, yet it still fails to capture the sheer delight of Hergé's adventures.
Dabbous, 39 Whitfield Street, London W1
Sunday 26 February 2012
You won't forget this taste of Dabbous. Just get there before the Michelin men do...
Luke Blackall: Someone save us from the curse of the canapé
Saturday 11 February 2012
Man About Town: Fantastic staples like sushi, fish and chips and roast beef and Yorkshire pudding are rendered useless
Lucky Bunny, By Jill Dawson
Friday 26 August 2011
Jill Dawson's vivid seventh novel is the picaresque tale of the childhood and later career of Queenie Dove, a female criminal. Born in 1933, Queenie flowers as a con artist and thief in the fragile new wealth and glamour of late 1950s and early 1960s London, finding her apotheosis as one of the never-traced participants in the Great Train Robbery of 1963.
Wines of the week: Château Léoube Rosé 2010; Sainsbury's Taste the Difference Barbaresco DOCG 2008; Verdicchio dei Castelli di Jesi 2010 Monte Schiavo
Sunday 21 August 2011
Terry Kirby selects the best bottles to buy
Claws celebre: Mark Hix praises tasty, versatile crab with recipes inspired by his own festival
Saturday 06 August 2011
The other week I instigated a crab festival in Lyme Regis to coincide with the RNLI week, where the Red Arrows perform their annual sky show, and various sea awareness demonstrations take place. This was a great opportunity to show off our local crab and Kevin Gratton, my right hand man, did a demo on the Cob, right next to the water. Between us we cooked 20 different crab dishes and sold them at a fiver each for the lifeboat pot.
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