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 […]

Easter 2016 menu

Sometimes it seems a bit of a waste of time to plan an Easter menu around all that chocolate and hot cross buns, and as much as I like to gorge myself on chocolate eggs (this year’s Cocoa Loco mega-egg next to Alfie for scale), now’s the time where my pregnant tummy needs as wide […]

Why I love … Clarence Court eggs

As I explained in the introduction to this ‘Why I love …‘ series, I wanted the opportunity to shout about some brands, products and services I love. The motivation for writing this series is because I think what I am writing about is a good thing, and I want to share my views with you. The […]

Happy birthday to me – Nutella cheesecake

It was my birthday on Sunday, hence the peace and quiet from this neck of the woods over the weekend. I have managed to stretch out the celebrations to well over a week, starting with a visit from my mum last Wednesday where I cooked her a great chicken, asparagus and orzo pasta recipe … […]

Crab and chilli with homemade tagliatelle

As I may have mentioned (boasted) in previous posts, Andrew has been making very heavy hints about wishing for more pasta to feature on our menus … by buying me every conceivable piece of pasta making kit to attach to my beautiful KitchenAid. Not that I am complaining – I love pasta, and I love […]

Homemade pasta

Two recipes for the price of one this week: homemade spaghetti with tomato and basil sauce, and homemade fusilli with squid and prawn sauce. Spaghetti and fusilli are two types of pasta which you wouldn’t normally associate with homemade pasta, but thanks to my fabulous new KitchenAid attachment, I can make those, macaroni and rigatoni […]

Getting steamed up – steamed suet and sponge puddings

When I was younger I never really wanted what my Mum cooked me for dinner. As a child of the 80s I wanted the kind of food that Iceland still seems to sell: crispy pancakes, mini kievs, chicken dippers, potato waffles, beefburgers with processed cheese ON THE INSIDE, and lots and lots of chips.  MacDonalds […]

GBBO challenge week 8 – vegetable cake

Find out more about by Great British Bake Off challenge. Okay, I admit it, this week is a complete cop-out. The technical challenge during week 8’s GBBO was a dacquoise – a layered cake of hazelnut meringue, coffee cream, chocolate ganache and crushed hazelnuts. I did seriously plan to make this cake, until my lovely […]