This week, we will be cooking up some ‘entrees’. Starters are setting the expectations for the rest of the meal. They can be cold, warm, spicy but never filling. That is where most hosts go wrong. They dish up a big starter and are surprised that so much food is left over at the end.…
Mr T deserved a treat the other day and since he doesn’t like ‘fancy’ food, I thought I cook him a nice hearty stew. I thought I had lots of vegetables at home, so didn’t bother with shopping other than the beef. My surprise was quite big when I saw that Mr T ate most…
This is the season to have friends over for a lovely dinner – what is better than to sit around a table with great food to catch up with your friends. I am always cooking several courses (keep the portions small so that your guests can make it to dessert) and like to start the…
This Summer – or the lack of it – has all growers in tatters. Same here. my raspberries didn’t look too happy and my strawberries went into hibernation (or never came out of it). My own apple tree looks sad sad sad….But the rhubarb withstood all elements and stand proud and tall….. so what to…
Have you ever heard your parents say – tomatoes don’t taste like tomatoes anymore? If so, your parents haven’t grown their own. Supermarket tomatoes are grown under cover and manipulated to be very red and very uniform. It makes them more appealing to the shoppers when they are nicely stacked up on the shelves. I…
Strawberry Fields Wow – what a festival. Slow Food & The Apple Farm invited to an Apple & Cider Festival and everyone came – Mr T and I did anyway. The event took place at the Apple Farm which was the perfect location to host the festival. Row after row of wonderful apple trees, raspberries,…
I am like the next one sometimes – I buy ready made puff pastry and since it is almost impossible to get all butter pastry, I am not that bothered about brands (yeap I even buy it from Aldi – saying that: Tesco has an buttery puff pastry but only sometimes). So, when I saw…
Verbena Vodka As most of you will know, I love Cafe Paradiso and it is no secret that I have all cookbooks written by Denis Cotter. And it was in his second book ‘Seasons’ that I came across the herb Lemon Verbena (a gorgeous pudding with white chocolate & ricotta – just delicious). He stated…
Whenever I hear the word gluten-free I run a mile. I still have dry, powdery cakes in my head that tasted more of cement mix (at least what I imagined cement to taste like) than delicious pieces of heaven. Same with biscuits and the rest of treats we are all so looking forward to. I…
I am very lucky that I have a bit of land with my house and that I am able to grow a lot of vegetables (if the weather lets me). When my dad still lived with me, we had chickens, ducks, rabbits and for a few years even our own turkeys. We were organic before…