December is now upon us and with it, the inescapable, yet exciting build up to Christmas. The lights, the music, the decorations, the tear-jerking adverts, the parties, the food, the drink…the hangovers! It is also that time of the year when family ask you what you would like for Christmas and…
Its January, and everyone is feeling a bit flat and deflated after the excitement of Christmas and New Year. The weather is grey, miserable and cold and all I want is comfort food. For me, soup is the ultimate comfort food. Its like a big, warm hug from the inside.…
I was reading the Observer Food Monthly on the tube home the other day and was pouring over the recipes from Nigel Slater’s new book The Kitchen Diaries II when I saw this recipe for blackberry & hazelnut friands. They looked beautiful and running over the ingredients I realised that…
I am a huge fan of Nigel Slater and I loved his BBC series Simple Cooking. Each week had a different theme and one week’s theme was ‘soft and crisp’ where he talked about the beauty of contrasting textures. To demonstrate a dish with a soft centre encased in crispy…
Not too long ago a friend of mine expressed mock disgust as he opened my kitchen cupboard and discovered two packets of Angel Delight – one butterscotch and one strawberry. Well, I think it was mock disgust anyway! He couldn’t believe that I could have such a synthetic dessert in…