Linguine with Tuna, Tomatoes & Olives

June 21, 2020.Reading time 9 minutes.

It turned out to be a perfect supper plan. After my lovely afternoon with the family at Wisley Gardens, a simple, easy-to-prepare supper was ideal. It was really a store-cupboard meal, even though the idea of just rooting around to see what I had in store wasn’t the inspiration. The inspiration was Donna Leon’s Unto […]

A Family Outing to RHS Garden Wisley

June 20, 2020.Reading time 9 minutes.

Wisley gardens are one of my favourite places to go. Just a 20-minute drive from my home, they’re a regular destination. Normally – not in lockdown times – they have a terrific schedule of events and exhibitions and I’ve been there a lot with the family – to see an exhibition of life-sized safari animals […]

Cooking with Freddie: Olive Focaccia

June 18, 2020.Reading time 9 minutes.

Well it’s been a long time since I’ve been able to cook with Freddie, my gorgeous 5½-year-old grandson. With the pandemic lockdown, for weeks we couldn’t see each other and then only at social distance, which Freddie was very strict about! ‘The virus’ is part of his new vocabulary. One has to hope there won’t […]

The Bubble Barbecue

June 15, 2020.Reading time 9 minutes.

Ten weeks of Lockdown and for the first time, this week, I could celebrate my single, solo-living status: the government announced that as part of the gradual easing of restrictions people living alone could now form a social ‘bubble’ with one other household. While before I could go round to my son’s and sit in […]

Return to Kew Gardens

June 8, 2020.Reading time 12 minutes.

Everyone has missed something during Lockdown since late March, due to the Coronavirus pandemic. There have been many common experiences but each person has had their own unique experience too. There have been some really difficult things to negotiate a way through for many people but, though I long for a return to a greater […]

Griddled Tuna with Mango Salsa (2)

June 1, 2020.Reading time 6 minutes.

This is the second version of a favourite family dish – hence the (2) in the title. The original version was one of my first ever posts on the blog back in 2011. I used to often make the dish, partly because I liked it so much and it’s really simple, especially for a midweek […]

The Patio Allotment

May 20, 2020.Reading time 12 minutes.

OK, so ‘Allotment’ maybe over-stating things; in reality I’ve got just courgettes, tomatoes, lettuce and strawberries growing, as well as my usual tubs of fresh herbs that sit just outside my kitchen door to the garden, in a sunny sheltered spot they – and I! – love. But like many others at the beginning of […]

Prawn & Courgette Risotto

May 15, 2020.Reading time 8 minutes.

Almost two months into Lockdown, I’m finding I have more food than normal in the house rather than less. Because food comes via deliveries, I order more than if I was just wandering into and around shops in my normal way, buying on almost a day-by-day basis with just a bigger shop once a week. […]

Taralli ai Semi di Finocchio

May 9, 2020.Reading time 9 minutes.

Well if Lockdown is getting us all to ‘make do’ in the kitchen and to ‘not waste’, it’s also given us time to try out new things. And I’ve been looking at the recipe for taralli in Gino D’Acampo’s Islands in the Sun book for ages, thinking, ‘I must make those some time.’ These little […]

Smoked Salmon, Spinach, Egg & Avocado Salad

May 5, 2020.Reading time 6 minutes.

The pandemic and lockdown have always felt awful and we’ve all had to adjust to the shock of suddenly finding ourselves in such a terrible situation. I remember at the start I’d wake in the morning and it would be like when someone you love dies, or a love affair ends, and you suddenly remember; […]