Favourite Restaurant Meal
This is bloody depressing but my favourite meal in a restaurant, not a roast dinner, in 2025 was a vegan dish at Mildreds.
From memory, I think it was beans, potato in a fake chorizo sauce (it did taste like chorizo too) with crispy onions – and other stuff going on.
It was very impressive. Great texture too with the crispy onions.
Favourite Restaurant Meal on Holiday
I feel like I had a lot of average food on holidays this year – especially in places like Santorini.
One dish really stands out though, and it was just a starter, yet it blew me away:
Chanterelle toast with brioche, lumpfish roe and some Swedish cheese, at a restaurant we stumbled into in Stockholm. Not planned, not researched – totally accidental.
My the combination was stunning, so much depth to it – I was gutted that I’d not long had lunch (we had very unsynchronised hunger by this stage).
Favourite Meal at Home
I’m back to being me here – and my favourite meal I cooked was a pie!
Coronation haddock pie with carrot, fennel & raisin salad.
No photo…believe it or not.
Favourite Roast Dinner
At least this one is easy to remember as I have a whole website dedicated to it. You know about it?
The beef brisket was BBQ heaven, absolutely stunning. Gorgeous gravy, excellent yorkie, sun was shining, Steady Rolling Man on tap.
But in Chingford of all places.
Favourite Dessert
A few stand out, but we had this utter delight in Portimão back in October:
I cannot actually remember much about it, but it was really rather light in texture, and I think passion fruit-flavoured.
Hmmm.
Favourite Movie
Well I’m putting down a series, but I bought it on DVD so it counts, and who gives a fuck anyway.
Generation Kill.
It was stunning but also quite overwhelming.
A series on the invasion of Iraq, and one battalion of marines and their really different characters, from those questioning what the hell they were doing, to those desperate to kill, to those who are losing it. And so much in between. So much is wrong, so much is degrading, so much explains why the war in Iraq went wrong (and why America in general has gone, erm…Trump), and was ultimately totally wrong. It really is a lot to take in and mentally process.
Favourite Book
I actually read a few books in 2025, but my favourite was Narcoball by David Arrowsmith.
The book actually annoyed me at the start by constantly telling me what would happen later in the book, “as we’ll see later”.
But I really got into it, it’s a fascinating confluence over how Pablo Escobar took over the drugs trade, various football clubs and a good chunk of the country – much of the book is about the interplay of Pablo and football itself, but it does cover much of the violence and his upbringing too. Really fascinating. Some of the 80’s/90’s footballing moments I could remember somewhat too, so there was a bit of reminiscing for me, like Higuiata’s scorpion kick at Wembley.
The closest I came to not being able to put down a book in 2025.
Favourite Theatre
Well this has to be Midsummer’s Nights Dream at Bridge Theatre.
Shakespeare can be a bit tricky to follow, but I’ve read the book and seen it performed previously, so I kind of get this – and it is probably one of his funniest plays.
Not only that, but it was immersive, so we were stood up and the action took place all around us – and with the acrobats, quite often above us.
Some amazingly talented actors too.
Favourite DJ mix
I’ve been utterly charmed by babyschön’s radio show in 2025 (think 80’s sleaze), plus still like listening to Ben UFO’s Hessle Audio a lot. And the usual house/minimal.
So my favourite mix of 2025 is minimal, shock horror – it’s from a Japanese DJ called RAHA.
Dark but dreamy to start, and slowly builds up – it’s just gorgeous minimal.
Favourite Track
Kind of impossible to pick, but I think this track by Beard In Dust (no idea who he/she/they are) kept putting a smile on my face. It’s slow, groovy synth-pop that I was reminded of by babyschön.
Something more upbeat would be Not OK Relationship by Gojnea76 and Zefzeed…it’s a bassline thing.
But the sample is cool too.
Though also I could have chosen Blakpin by XDB, Tohatsu by Ben Kaczor…oh gosh there’s too many.
Ben Klock & Fadi Mohem’s LP is great, as is the new one by Paul St Hillaire, on a dub techno vibe.
I also went through everything that Douglas McCarthy of Nitzer Ebb fame did, after he passed away – and I forgot how powerful this was:
It is much harder to find music I love nowadays, but I normally find or re-discover one or two gems each month.