Still eating leftovers – week 2, 2022

All power to those of you who are abstaining from booze, meat, treats, caffeine, etc. Andrew and I are not, for two main reasons. Primarily, life in a pandemic is miserable enough, and these nice things bring us pleasure. But also I still have a tonne of food leftover from Christmas, and I prefer not […]

Traditional Welsh Cakes recipe – the authentic Welsh teatime treat

Traditional Welsh Cakes for a teatime treat I love Welsh Cakes, which are a traditional Welsh dish. They are soft, buttery, not too sweet and slightly salty, warmly spiced, and filled with dried fruit. The first one straight off the griddle is definitely the best cook’s perk! They make the perfect accompaniment to a cuppa, […]

Life in lockdown: a food diary – April 2020

When you are someone, like me, who always thinks about food, and you find yourself in a situation where you are in much closer proximity to the fridge than you would normally be on a working day … it’s a challenge to stay out of there. When you are, like me, always thinking about your […]

The lockdown loaf – super easy loaf of bread – new recipe

This lockdown loaf is a very easy loaf of bread to make – and uses just four ingredients! You just need to be able to get hold of strong white flour … which is not always easy right now! An Italian dream My last blog post was about my wonderful holiday in Tuscany last summer. […]

Meal planning during a hectic couple of weeks

Last week ended up not being entirely to plan: leek lasagne turned into Spag Bol (Quorn version for my vegetarian brother); I let the potatoes over-boil on Thursday and the mashed potato was too salty, leaving them inedible; and a little accident for Ioan on Friday (bashing his mouth, leading to a chipped front tooth) […]

Baking double chocolate cookies with a toddler – a photo guide

The other day, when Ioan and I were at home together and it was freezing cold and starting to snow outside, I decided that instead of venturing out, I’d bake some cookies with him. Call it greedy, call it fortunate, but there is rarely a basic baking recipe where all the ingredients aren’t already in […]

GBBO week 9 – madeleines

Before I start, let me just get this out of the way: Yes, they are supposed to be madeleines. Light, delicate, lemon-scented sponge cakes with a distinctive scalloped decoration on one side, and a pregnant bump on the other. My version have none of the above. I did think the instruction to ‘pour the batter […]

GBBO week 8 – Danish rye bread smorrebrod

I love Danish pastries, but Andrew does not, so I chose to make a Danish rye bread for the latest Great British Bake off challenge. Have you ever heard of smorrebrod? I didn’t before I watched the Bake Off Danish week and liked the idea of topping some rye bread with creamed horseradish, smoked mackerel, […]

GBBO week 7 – vegan carrot cake

As I have no doubt mentioned before, Andrew is a carnivore. The idea of a meal without meat or fish is unacceptable for Andrew, and the only way I get through Meat Free Mondays is to use copious amounts of cheese. So veganism is never going to be likely in our household, and I have […]