Tom Oxford's Big Plans For 2026

Staycation place I'd like to visit

Dungeness. I love the sea, especially when it comes up against something it has no business being alongside. A looming nuclear power station, Jarmans black tarred cottage and shacks strewn about the beach give it the feel of an artistic doomsday preppers retreat, which is my kind of retreat. It looks like there's a pretty decent fish shack there too, so I'm sold. 

Restaurant I really want to go to 

Potager in Falmouth, not so much a restaurant as a wholesome immersion in food, community and cosiness that makes you feel proud to be human. I've been craving less of the self important foodie restaurants with ideas about as deep as the creases in their natural linen, and more places like this. Where they appear to genuinely care, and offer something the world needs right now, a connection to your community and your food. Which shouldn't be rare, but somehow is. 

Potager, Falmouth

New hobby/obsession I'd like to try or an existing one I'd like to master 

I'm not much of a hobbyist, unless you count trying to find ways to relax as a hobby. Which maybe it is at this point. Mostly I just read a lot. So this year I'm going to keep doing that and try to work through the pile of books by my bed that's becoming a structural concern. I've also been thinking about walking the South West Coast Path. It's literally on our doorstep so it feels ridiculous not to consider it. Does that mean I'll actually do it? Maybe. Probably, in sections. The thing about living somewhere beautiful, is that you spend more time thinking about all the things you could get off your arse and do instead of doing them. So yeah, this year it's more walking and less sitting.    

Cake I'd like to see happen

A sticky, dense, highly caramelised apple cake. One you bake to the edge of burnt, where the apples surrender to the butter until they become more than apples, triggering a paradigm shift in your whole apple belief system. The next time you see an apple, you'll see multiple universes of possibility of what apples could become when they stop being just apples. You may even start an apple cult, recruiting one dimensional apple thinkers to your orchard of new hope, spreading the word of the ingredient that can change minds and worlds. No that I want to over sell it.  

Dish that I keep cooking at home

One of my favourite winter meals to cook is cabbage steaks. Perfect for a work night veggie dish, with the added bonus of still having steak in the name. All you need to do is cut a cabbage lengthways, season the cut-sides with salt, pepper and olive oil and fry them on a raging heat until they're charred. So charred you think you've ruined dinner. But you haven't, you just need to add a metric ton of butter and some chopped garlic to the pan, then watch all that burnt caramelised goodness become one with the cabbage. The end result is a tender, juicy steak, oozing with garlicky rich butter.  I'm pretty sure it's a healthy meal, even if it's technically more butter than vegetable at this point.