Cookbook Challenge: Marcus Wareing – hot smoked salmon eggs Benedict (new recipe)

I love Marcus Wareing’s new book of ‘New Classics’ – a Christmas present from Andrew. I have already made a couple of recipes from there, including cod goujons in parmesan crust (Ioan adored them), but I ate them too quickly to photograph for a write up. I have previously mentioned our delicious hot smoked salmon […]

Week 41 – not quite as healthy as planned

So last week was my supposed return to healthy eating. Things didn’t go entirely to plan, although my homemade breakfast (granola) and lunch (cream of sweetcorn soup) helped keep me on the straight and narrow at work. Unfortunately I sampled a few too many of the millionaire’s shortbread which I made for last week’s GBBO […]

Weeks 39 & 40 – post-holiday healthy eating

Does anyone go on holiday and not over-indulge just a teeny bit? I always do, and although that over-indulgence is usually balanced out by lots of physical activity, this time it comes on top of a period of unhealthy snacking to combat the sleep deprivation caused by little Ioan, so I am really feeling the […]

Week 19 – the hungry games

I know that I have been eating a lot lately, but put that down to an increased appetite from breastfeeding, and no will control due to chronic lack of sleep (thanks Ioan). But only by trying to restrict my food intake have I realised how many snacks and treats I have been putting away, and […]

Week 43 – amazing roast beef and Laguiole carving set

Many years ago, Andrew went out shopping to buy me a birthday present in his lunch break, and when he returned to the office his colleagues were eager to know what he had bought me. It was a frying pan. They were horrified, but Andrew explained I would be delighted with it, as it would […]

GBBO week 5 – Danish pastries

I was going to title this blog post ‘Easy Danish pastries’ because the dough I used was a cross between a rough puff and an enriched dough, so it wasn’t as much hard work as it could have been … however, it wasn’t that easy either, so I thought it best not to mislead with […]

Week 41 – Asia to Columbia on a plate

Looking back on my week’s photos, I can see between the thousands of pictures of Ioan that most of our food has been Asian inspired this week, with a little pop across to Colombia for lunch with the girls. First up was a prawn stirfry for meat-free Monday – although I normally like to avoid […]

Week 38 – a new normal

Since the birth of our son, life has changed dramatically. Of course that won’t surprise you – whether you have kids or not, you know that a baby in the house means that your life is dictated to by a tiny human who can only communicate through crying (and the odd scream), who you simply […]

Week 36 – trying to meal plan again

Our little bundle of joy was four weeks old yesterday – I can’t believe that in four short weeks our world has completely turned upside down (and I can’t believe that I am still alive on so little sleep!). As a self-confessed control freak, I do find the  lack of structure a challenge, but want to embrace […]

Week 13 – eating my way around the Cotswolds

Our good friends Niasha and Jigi returned from Sri Lanka for a short trip back to the UK with their baby Georgie last week, so along with other friends Jo (from Alphabet Adventures) and Billy, we staged a reunion. The last time we saw eachother was 2 years ago when Jo, Billy, Andrew and I […]