Category Archives: Brighton Life

Sirena Bergman and more

Brighton Life, Eating Out, Features

Lockdown Food: Chilli Pickle

It’s been a cook’s dream, these last few months of Lockdown, a chance to rifle through new recipes, follow our favourite chefs on Instagram Live and finally nail that sour dough. It seems that time and incarceration has finally taught Britain how to cook. But two months of isolation with a 21-year-old vegetarian daughter and a pescatarian husband has left me salivating for a locally sourced, high welfare pork belly, lamb shank or butter-soft tenderloin.  We (ok, I) have a rule in our house: one dish at any one mealtime. The days of cooking pasta for the kids, fish for husband and meat for me are way gone; eating these days is for grown-ups.

Except when we get a take-away.

Ah the joys of a banquet of bowls of steaming spices and mix and match flavours, a treat I’d thought was on hold in these days of empty restaurants and furloughed chefs. ‘Park by the Waggon and Horses and we’ll bring it up’ said Dawn from The Chilli Pickle, our favourite Indian with its dishes drawn from the Sperring’s annual family adventures across the sub-continent. I’ve listened to their stories of the long drives and extraordinary finds across India as they follow tips and hunches and head to hill stations and toddy shops, beach shacks and street markets to find the best food in off-road India and bring it back to Brighton; it’s why it’s always in the top 20 Brighton Best Restaurants.

It’s heart breaking to look at that list and wonder if the chefs and teams that work so hard to bring Brighton such extraordinary variety and quality will recover.

So what a glorious treat to find The Chilli Pickle open for take-away. And of course, it’s not just any old take-away; they’ve been delivering since before Deliveroo came to town, their dishes prettily divided into sweet little railway trays, inspired by those served on the long train journeys still so much a part of Indian life and which Alun and Dawn first discovered on their honeymoon.  We peeled them open to find Jed’s Keralan fish curry and Loulou’s aubergine and peanut curry while my Old Delhi tandoori chicken breasts on the bone were too unwieldy for such pretty compartments, and oozed fenugreek butter into tin foil which I drizzled into my fluffy basmati.

Tonight, we’ll be back to beans, Mexican black, Italian cannellini, French flageolet or English carlin, always delicious with endless herbs, spices and sauces to make dinner time a treat.  But a Thursday night Chilli Pickle while West Hill claps for the NHS? I think it could become a thing.

 

17 Jubilee Street BN1 1GE

Thechillipickle.com

01273 900383

 

Gilly Smith

Brighton Life, Features, Music, The Arts

Lockdown Music: Kitchen disco, Brighton style

“What does a DJ do when they can’t DJ? They get creative. Covid-19 has set us all back socially and kept us housebound, but for me it involves more than not being able to go out and let off steam. It has impacted my livelihood.

Since the lockdown I’ve had to find ways of keeping myself entertained as well as maintaining my passion for playing records- and, of course, earning a crust.

One of those ways has been to DJ online every Friday, usually via my Instagram Live (if I don’t get booted off for copyright issues). The idea behind these online DJ sets is that each week I will name two genres for my Instagram followers to vote for. Once a genre has been chosen, I’ll select my records for the set. When Friday evening arrives, my ever-lively girlfriend Rebecca and I will begin to entertain the troops. Rebecca is my hype girl. Basically, she’s the Bez to my Shaun Ryder or the Flava Flav to my Chuck D. We like to keep it fun and interactive so we’ll often respond to comments and openly encourage requests. The third member of the DJ crew is Cleo, our large cat.

The other string to my bow is painting. My art is inspired mostly by the pop-artists – Patrick Caulfield and Duggie Fields particularly.

I take commissions and most of my work so far has been portraits of people who have commissioned them. I’m constantly working through a backlog of commissions, but I’m always open to more. Painting really is so therapeutic, and we’re working on a new collection, inspired by Cleo walking through the wet paint”.

Henry Padgham-Wickett

Instagram: @_henry_wp

Facebook: Henry WP

Henry Pic

Brighton Life, Environment

BE of West Hill

A Christmas tree is not just for Christmas

After the festivities, lots of real Christmas trees are dumped onto pavements and removed by the Council at residents’ cost, when it already provides a tree recycling station at Montpelier Crescent – a short walk for anyone living in West Hill/Seven Dials. Recycled trees are shredded, turned into mulch, and then sold on to grow new trees and plants Continue reading BE of West Hill →

Brighton Life, Features

Part of the Furniture

RW BERRY & SON has been a fixture in the Dials since 1959. This is the story of how it came to be . . .

In 1959 Chris Berry, aged 13, moved from South London to Brighton into Stanford Road next to the motor garage. He attended Brighton and Hove Grammar School (now called BHASVIC) and left to pursue a career working for the National Cash Register Company, maintaining huge mechanical calculating machines (early computers) in banks around Sussex.  He played guitar and did some performing locally in Brighton.  At the age of 17 and 3 weeks he passed his driving test and bought an old Morris Minor van to do local transport of furniture in and around the Brighton area.  There were very few people doing small transport jobs in those days so he was remarkably busy. Continue reading Part of the Furniture →

Brighton Life, Environment

Jims Gowans’ West Hill Watch, Feb 20

Overflowing Bins

Residents do not need reminding of Brighton’s problems with on-street waste collection, especially after the Christmas period. Although Cityclean, the Council’s in-house waste and recycling collection service, must bear most of the responsibility, some residents might well reflect on their own irresponsible behaviour in dumping rubbish and items for recycling on the street next to the bins rather than in a safer and more appropriate place. It is surely not unreasonable, for example, to take glass to the glass collection bin rather than to leave it on the pavement next to the bin for paper etc. And if you have a piece of furniture to give away, leave it in front of your own front door or, better still, advertise it online for collection; it costs nothing to do this, after all. Continue reading Jims Gowans’ West Hill Watch, Feb 20 →

Brighton Life, Environment

The Advent of Non-Disabled Parking Bays

HAVING BEEN CALLED a ‘Miserable Old Git’ by a local trader who had their white transit van in a Dyke Road disabled bay (because I legally requested he move for me to use it) I have taken photos and note that ‘disabled’ means not a jot to a huge Co-op lorries, Post Office vans, scaffolding lorries, trader vans and other members of the public. If challenged, the invariable reply is, “I am only here for 2 minutes.” Is a disabled driver supposed to disappear whilst that driver completes his shopping or whatever? Unfortunately, we do need more cameras to cover these bays. The fines and points on illegally parked drivers’ licences are high but few get caught!

Written by a Fed-up Old Git, BE of West Hill

Brighton Life, Environment

Nature2020

Nature20202020 MARKS THE end of the UN Decade on Biodiversity, and is an opportunity to reflect on the state of wildlife and conservation both globally and locally.

A coalition of local environmental and cultural organisations is preparing to launch Nature2020, a year-long programme of events and activities to celebrate and highlight the natural environment of The Living Coast: Brighton and Lewes Downs UNESCO designated world Biosphere. Continue reading Nature2020 →

Brighton Life, Features

Street Treasures

StreetTreasuresWHEN I MOVED to Buckingham Road two years ago, I didn’t expect to end up furnishing my new flat with junk from the street. What I discovered was a whole new world of street treasures, from abandoned tables and chairs to plant pots and bookcases. Almost every day that summer I experienced a feeling of complete joy as I came across yet another dumpster flanked by items just waiting for someone to welcome them into their home. Continue reading Street Treasures →