Travel tips-Restaurant reviews-Recipes
I had a wonderful couple of days at my daughter Nicola’s over Christmas. I hope you had a good Christmas too! Arriving on Christmas Eve, I’d gone up to Birmingham quite early to try to avoid the Christmas rush on the M40. Nicola was busy cooking; Rachael was at work. I acted as sous chef […]
Read MoreThere is a family story about Dundee cake. I took to making Scottish Whisky Dundee Cake for Christmas from Delia Smith’s Christmas book way back when it was first published in 1990 and my kids were still quite small. No one in the family – other than me – likes ‘proper’ Christmas cake: a rich, dark […]
Read MoreA week ago, my daughter Nicola came down from Birmingham for the weekend and was taking her partner Rachael into London in the afternoon for some birthday treats. The birthday girl was first given a surprise of ice skating on the rink outside the Natural History Museum and then taken inside for the Wildlife Photographer […]
Read MoreA member of the brassica family of vegetables, Romanesco is sometimes called Romanesco broccoli, Roman broccoli and sometimes Romanesco cauliflower. It certainly has the taste of cauliflower raw when I tried a bit as I started cooking. What appeals to me is the wonderful lime-green colour and most amazing spiral florets that look like something that might […]
Read MorePizza is an early street food. Street food is all the rage at the moment with markets popping up all over London, even well-established restaurants taking a stall, and offering the kind of wonderful food that’s only been seen before in places flung very wide of London. Street food when I was a kid was […]
Read MoreInspired by the menu at Brula on Saturday evening and that three of our party chose chestnut soup, I decided to make some for lunch yesterday. Chestnuts are in season at this time of year – from about October through December. Originally from more southern climates, Sweet Chestnut trees were brought to England and planted extensively […]
Read MoreThe blog is a constant source of joy, not least because it’s led me to meet some lovely people: other bloggers, chefs and restaurateurs who have been willing to let me interview them (click here), owners of food shops and cafes, and today two other people who are as enthusiastic about Italy and Italian food as […]
Read MoreAfter my last frittata post, I thought I really must have these wonderful Italian versions of omelette more often for supper. They’re so quick and easy to make. As long as you have eggs – and most people have some eggs to hand – you can then add a variety of things from your fridge: all kinds […]
Read MoreMy daughter Nicola was 34 last Friday. That’s how long I’ve been a mother and it’s how long I’ve been a freelance book editor, rather than an in-house full-time one. Just as I’m in some ways still experimenting on my firstborn, even though she’s a real grown-up now (as a firstborn myself I can empathise […]
Read MoreI rarely eat sausages these days (they were a regular supper dish when my kids were small) but a few times I’ve sought out good, authentic Italian sausages for a dish and had no luck finding any. Then the other day I was in Corto Italian Deli buying more taralli – a serious addiction of […]
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