Last week I found myself with a surfeit of pears. The one and only William pear from my own little tree, plus a whole basket of mixed pears from my friendly neighbours. I used the soft William pears in another Pear and Almond Cake but still had lots of conference pears left. I knew that […]
September 7, 2011
Vanessa Kimbell’s post suggesting we take part in random acts (bakes) of kindness was compelling. She suggested we think about who deserved a spontaneous thank you, a kind word or some recognition…and that we bake an extra batch of something just for them. I love a bit of random kindness. My mum always taught me […]
August 23, 2011
Cooking fashions come and go, but french macarons seem to be in for the long haul. I avoided them for a long while, but the regular MacTweets from Twitter friends like Sarah at Maison Cupcake led me to have a go early last year. I prepared by reading lots of blogposts, recipes and online tutorials and filled […]
June 18, 2011
I am still learning the importance of a sense of order. I don’t mean having everything in its place, although that really helps. It’s about making sure that I do things in the right sequence. Every time I cook something I work out a better way…or rather I realise I have done something ‘arse about […]
June 16, 2011
I have had my Kenwood Titanium Chef for 6 months now and people still arrive at things{we}make searching for Kenwood Vs KitchenAid information, so I thought I would offer an update. Note: Any underlined phrases link to where I have used the Kenwood Chef in a post. So, me and Ken are getting along just dandy. […]
June 3, 2011
Just a little ‘Something for the Weekend’. In the days before children, Ed used to often make something like this on a Friday night after work. Something to tide us over until dinner. The truth of the matter was, once we’d had this and a few beers, we rarely got round to bothering with dinner. […]
May 19, 2011
I have always, always loved pavlova. I think it stems from my delight at the frozen ones bought from the Cash & Carry back in the 70’s. A raspberry pavlova was the height of chic in those days, even though my Mum used to forget to get it out of the freezer so we ended up […]
May 11, 2011
When spring comes around I promise that we will change our wintery, comfort eating ways. We will eat fresh produce, lots of vegetables and salads and cut down on the carbs. With this in mind I bought some barnsley chops of spring lamb and the first British asparagus of the season. I also replenished our […]
May 7, 2011
We have built a small raised deck at the end of the garden where a wooden gazebo once stood. I wanted it to be a quiet little place where you could go and sit, away from the house. Somewhere to ponder. So we have planted bamboo around it and an almond blossom tree to give […]
February 17, 2011
If I ever ask Ed what cake he wants for his birthday, the answer is a victoria sponge, with buttercream in the middle and icing, sprinkles and a cherry on top. Quite specific really. This year though I had an ulterior motive as I wanted to enter a cake into the #nigellaforever challenge. With a […]
February 3, 2011
This is something that has been on my ‘to blog’ list for a while: Ice Cream Muffins. When I read that you can make muffins by just using Flour and Ice Cream I was intrigued. When you think about it, a good quality dairy ice cream has eggs, sugar and vanilla in it, as well as cream. Add […]
January 1, 2011
We hope you all had a great Christmas and New Year. Thank you for taking the time to read our posts this year. A special thank you to all of our subscribers for sticking with us. We hope you are occasionally inspired to make stuff too. Let us know when you do. We have […]
December 16, 2010
I bought a ‘sprout tree’ at the supermarket. I guess they are so ‘in season’ that they are a bargain at the moment. It was really fresh and a beautiful thing to look at with its perfect spirals of firm green sprouts. It seemed a shame to chop them all off and cook them. I’d […]
December 8, 2010
I had a fabulous day at Optomen Studios, filming for Derbyshire Week at Market Kitchen. The show aired on Thursday 9th December at 7pm on the Good Food Channel. Leslie Jordan was a guest, he is perhaps most well known for his “Beverley’ character in Will & Grace. He the sweetest, funniest person you could […]
December 7, 2010
When I don’t feel like standing at the hob stirring a risotto and I’m craving something warming and spicy, we have jambalaya. This is my take on the creole dish which has been tempered down to be child friendly. It is also made with things we very often have in the fridge or freezer and […]
December 2, 2010
Here I sit, snowed in for another day. For the last month Amazon has sent me daily special offers for ‘Stand Mixers’. I find this surprising as not only did I buy my stand mixer several weeks ago, but I bought it via Amazon. I am not going to buy another. They are not cheap […]
November 30, 2010
I tried some of this cake last year and it was so nice I asked Ed’s aunt Caryl to send me the recipe. It’s a good one so as we are snowed in and I have just made some, I thought I would share it with you…The recipe, not the cake. The collection of golden […]
September 20, 2011
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