Red. I love red. I wear red in winter, to outcry from my very western-world colleagues. But I offer no apologies. I like the passion, the romance and the strength of crimson and cerise hues. However, I wasn’t prepared for the sight that confronted me at a meeting last Thursday afternoon. This was an office...
It’s all about timing, life is. I am often shocked at the ‘coincidences’ that take place. Mind you, I don’t believe at all in coincidence, I am more a fan of the law of attraction. Me, food, you, we happy.
Sometimes I’m stunned by his partial food memory. He could have a delicious meal today and not remember a single component the following week. That’s my husband. Last year, he went to Krakow (Poland) and in true foodie style, I organised with staff at the hotel where he stayed to make sure he tried pierogi....
I wasn’t sitting under a tree when this idea came to me No apple dropped on my head Stunning me to discovery But then I’m no Newton It is my good friend, L I have to thank for this Albeit it in a roundabout way See, once upon a time three years ago I needed...
Or Mispels according to the Dutch. Also known as Japanese medlar, not to be confused with that other sort of fruit, also called medlar, requiring rotting and bletting to reach edible status. It took me a year to find out what the English name for Mispels was. I first came across them in a market...
It could have worked out. For days before I made it, I dreamt and searched for recipes which used meringues instead of pastry pie shells. No dice. Still I went ahead, I could see it, smell it, taste it. The individual elements were great – meringues, orange curd and chocolate ganache.
Sometimes we go too far, then we slip over the edge, falling or flying: such are the adventures of the home cook. Daily and weekly, I am obsessed with how to make things at home, sometimes I succeed, and sometimes I fail and rather spectacularly too but I never let that stop me, guilty as...
I have a chocolate glut. Oh yes. Chocolate. Glut. If you didn’t know, I’ll tell you now – I have a huge chocolate plant in my back garden, right next to the trampoline (my non-DIY husband sweated to put together) and my not-so-barren veggie patch, teeming with mint and lemon melisse.
My most loved stories and books as a child were all written by Enid Blyton. My sisters could well say the same. We sought book after book after book from Famous Five to Secret Seven, culminating in the adventures at St Clare’s and Malory Towers. The one thing I loved the most and still remember...