Travel tips-Restaurant reviews-Recipes
A couple of weeks ago, grandson Freddie (10) wanted to help me when I started making some rock cakes. I had the boys with me for the afternoon and was trying to think of some quick and easy cakes to make and remembered how my mother made rock cakes most Sundays – and they’re very […]
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This is the kind of post that usually gets published around new year, looking back on the best of the previous year. However, I had a busy start to 2025 – family and work – and so a look back on 2024 passed me by. Now spring is on our doorstep (not officially with us […]
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We were running out of chutney. The Green Tomato Chutney I made in September was almost gone. Although I shared Katie Stewart’s advice to wait a month before eating the chutney to allow it to mature, the family barely managed a week. Grandsons Freddie (9) and Ben (6), who’d initially been sceptical that anything made […]
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It’s not been a great summer here in London and already, although autumn doesn’t officially begin until the 22nd, autumnal weather has arrived; conkers fall to the ground from the huge horse chestnut trees on Twickenham Green, and the days are closing in. There’s been a lot of rain and cool temperatures all through ‘summer’. […]
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This dish always reminds me of Rome. I first had it in Rome in 2000 when I spent a month at a language school there and stayed in a flat owned by some friends. I had a favourite restaurant near the flat and the first time I had this dish, the fish was rombo – […]
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I love aubergines and so do my family. I’ve been making Ottolenghi’s Bulgur with Tomato, Aubergine & Preserved Lemon Yoghurt a lot recently – we all love it. It’s great on its own, with lamb or chicken and even good sausages. But yesterday I thought it was really time to try something new with aubergines. […]
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I’ve written about a spring risotto before – Risotto Primavera – but that was nine years ago and frankly, it’s such a gorgeous risotto it deserves a little more attention and this one is more simple (though I have to confess I’ve made it like this before on the blog, but again nine years ago). […]
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I don’t mean this as a sad heading, but I live alone, and that means inevitably many solo meals. However, it is quite unusual for me to be home alone over an Easter weekend, but with my birthday weekend not far away in April, when all the family will be here, and a particularly large […]
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Ottolenghi’s Bulgur with Tomato, Aubergine & Preserved Lemon Yoghurt from his book Simple has become one of the family’s favourite dishes and we cook it often – to serve with lamb, chicken, sausages. I’ve been making it so often lately that the other day I thought I should take another look through Simple and see […]
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I’ve greatly enjoyed watching Rick Stein’s new TV series, Rick Stein’s Food Stories, in which he travels around UK exploring food traditions and the country’s favourite foods. In each episode, he heads back to his kitchen in Padstow, Cornwall a couple of times to cook up something which reflects the foods he’s been looking at, […]
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