Aaron Vallance

February 2026 Favourites list Hello and welcome to my February favourites list. While this is not my favourite time of year, today I can’t complain. There may be a chil...

Brand new blog post - my February 2026 favourites list. Food and travel, kitchen tips, recipes, and some other cultural selections. Please take a look!
snigskitchen.blogspot.com/2026/02/febr...

How lovely!

They're stunning!

Hamantaschen filled with rhubarb jam

Homemade rhubarb jam hamantaschen for Purim. (And perfect timing too, as I'm just finishing up the 'hamantaschen chapter' for my book!) 🩷

Sandwich with mushrooms and broccoli

Always a joy catching up with my fabulous agent @kaypeddle.bsky.social, especially when the sun shines and we're at Italo deli. The sandwich was immense too - with mushrooms, roast broccoli, crispy shallots, shredded cabbage Maggi mayonnaise and crispy chilli oil. 🥪

Kyfte meatballs with onions

Homemade kyfte meatballs with onions. Love this paprika-charged recipe from Irina Janakievska's wonderful cookbook, The Balkan Kitchen. 🌶️

They did such a good job!

Eggs mayo

The egg mayonnaise at Café Deco in Bloomsbury, London. Always a treat! ❤️

So good! 😋

Thanks Karen!

Millionaire shortbread and blondies

Half-term baking! My 15yr old went off to Grandma's and came back with batches of tarragon blondies and chocolate & hazelnut millionaire shortbread. He enjoyed baking them, and we've loved eating them! Both recipes from Benjamina Ebuehi's brilliant 'A Good Day To Bake'. 🍩

They look fabulous!

Chelsea buns

Sunday bun-day! Homemade Chelsea buns, using my go-to recipe via Felicity Cloake. 🥯

Coffee and Walnut Layer Cake Neither of my grandmothers, nor indeed my mother, was a baker but this cake is nonetheless the cake of my childhood. When I was little, I used to make it for my younger sister's birthday every year, b...

I always feel particularly happy when my Coffee and Walnut Cake is #RecipeOfTheDay. Yes, I adore the flavours but, more than that, I have such a deep emotional attachment to this classic bake. And I know that many of you do, too! www.nigella.com/recipes/coff...

😂

So good! 😋

Rhubarb custard bun

I ❤️ this rhubarb and blood orange custard bun from the Bread Bread bakery stall at my local London farmers market. 🥯

Thanks so much! 🙏

Lemon tendercake

Homemade lemon tendercake. It's that time of year when we say farewell to our wonderful resident doctors in training in our NHS child mental health team. This cake has now become the customary send off - a wonderful @nigella.bsky.social recipe that always goes down a treat. 🍋

A fab recipe from a fab book!

Chicken paprikaš

Homemade chicken paprikaš. Recipe via the wonderful 'The Balkan Kitchen' by Irina Janakievska. 🌶️

Chicken katsu sando

Can't get enough of the chicken katsu sando at Katsuro. 🥪

Thank you so much! 🙏

Pierogi and sour cream

Apple pie and ice cream

Pierogi and szarlotka (apple pie with cinnamon) at the wonderfully atmospheric candlelit bar at Ognisko.

Photo of In Good Taste: What Shapes What We Eat and Drink - and Why It Matters by Mallika Basu

And a special #CookbookCorner shoutout for In Good Taste: What Shapes What We Eat and Drink — and Why It Matters by the wonderful @mallikabasu.bsky.social!

Chocolate cake slice with ice cream and sour cherries

But then mum would always go large and exuberant when it came to her chocolate birthday cakes. So I swerved it warm, with scoops of vanilla ice cream and amarena sour cherries in syrup. Just the thing for this wonderful recipe in Bee Wilson's The Secret of Cooking.

Chocolate cake cut into slices

Thought I'd honour my mum's birthday - the first since her death - by baking a chocolate cake. Mum would always bake us a chocolate cake for our birthdays when we were growing up. I initially thought I'd keep it simple, with just a sprinkling of icing sugar...

It was all so delicious!

Wonderful, generous Yemeni food at Paddington's Queen of Sheba.

Thanks so much, Lexx. 🙏