

Tidying my desk
Still in a New Year's frame of mind I have decided today to deal with some of the little things in this stack of stuff waiting for me to...
Jan 6, 2022


Two for the op shop?
“Today, if we cook, we Google it. New cookbooks lie on the coffee table and we drool over Tuscan landscapes and rustic bread ovens....
Jan 5, 2022


Do you write in your cookbooks?
“[Annotations] are deeply personal and it's one of the reasons why cookbooks are often handed down within families. In many cases they...
Jan 4, 2022


A recipe and a book - why I'm a cowardly cook
“In cooking, as in writing, you must please yourself to please others,” Nigella Lawson For relaxation in the last couple of days I have...
Jan 3, 2022


A favourite fish - first recipe
"Remember that a very good sardine is always preferable to a not that good lobster" Ferran Adria I know I've done sardines before - a...
Jan 1, 2022


Those damned leftovers - especially the turkey
During the festive season, many of us lay down enough food to feed a ravenous army, and our kitchens can accumulate a huge volume of...
Dec 29, 2021


Crème brulée - it's really English
"For some reason, a bowl of custard isn't seen as an appropriate dessert for a grown adult – but scorch the top and give it a French name...
Dec 27, 2021


The gravlax saga
"gravadlax is glowing pink proof that healthy eating doesn’t have to be all hairshirts and low-fat hummus." Felicity Cloake The video...
Dec 22, 2021


What to do with all that jam
As you can see I now have lots of jars of jam (and marmalade) with still more to come. Well summer is coming and there will be lots of...
Dec 18, 2021


Iceberg lettuce
"The boring football known as iceberg." Nigel Slater "Icebergs might be mostly water but it is not watery. Its thing is crunch." The...
Dec 15, 2021


Jane Grigson's Chocolate pie - a lucky dip
"Chocolate pie chocolate pie! This is the best thing he’s made so far hands down. Dark chocolate, cream, booze, icing sugar, sugar,...
Dec 7, 2021


Rocky road and some detours
"The best thing about rocky road is that you can add anything you like! From white chocolate bits to glacé cherries, you can go down any...
Dec 5, 2021


My pissaladière story
"just add spring sunshine and a glass of wine" Andrew McConnell Tonight my local book group is meeting to choose our books for next year....
Dec 1, 2021


A blast from the past - poppy seed cake
"However unpredictable the weather, however disastrous the outing, however much fun has not really been had on the family-day out,...
Nov 30, 2021


The dilemma of Christmas pudding
“It is a problem certainly, that Christmas plum pudding. There is here something that I do not understand at all.” Hercule Poirot in...
Nov 29, 2021


Turkish sweets - a lucky dip
"Let's eat sweet, talk sweet" Turkish saying My lucky dip book this time is one of Claudia Roden's, and actually one of my favourite...
Nov 26, 2021


My other cookbook indulgence
"Spices are the words that come together to create the language of food." Christine Manfield When I indulged myself with some sort of...
Nov 25, 2021


Me time
"I consider these few minutes stolen from the working day as deep breaths of fresh air with which to refocus, take stock, get my head...
Nov 24, 2021


Why would you cook with tinned fruit?
"Now, it may be true that opening a tin can of fruit doesn't come close to the experience of picking up a fresh peach from a farm stand....
Nov 22, 2021


Marylands - duck ones
"a cut of chicken including part of the spine and the whole leg, as used for chicken Maryland. [from Maryland, U.S.A.] Macquarie...
Nov 16, 2021

