I grew up on breakfasts of Nutella on bread (not toast… fresh) or biscuits dipped in milk, sometimes a big bowl of chocolate milk full of fresh bread from the bakery down the road – don’t scoff until you try it – cereals came later when I was older but they were expensive and exotic …
A day of 2 halves. Early morning walk in the neighbourhood and short hike. By myself, because my children are lazy and the husband is still not a walking model. It was a glorious morning. On the top of that little hill, in full sun, the Coachella valley spread in front of me I took …
I’ve tried quite a few banana bread recipes through the years and this is by far my favourite. It’s definitively more like a bread than a cake. It’s not too sweet or ‘bananay’ and it tastes incredibly divine smothered in good quality butter (unsalted please!) or with Nutella. But then again what doesn’t taste better …
You know what they say about buses… you wait for ages for one to arrive and then two show up at once. Same with vintage finds. Last weekend? the one before? who can remember… I popped into a big charity shop (thrift store for you across the pond) on the way back from a super …
I have a new cookery book and I love it. First a couple of premises: my children are fussy eaters and their taste don’t match either which makes cooking for them either very boring or very time-consuming. I don’t like doing the same things over and over again and I certainly don’t want to be …
I don’t know about you but this time of year I feel the total urge of purging my cupboards, to sort out the unwanted things, the old clothes, the out of date food and spices… to get rid of the superfluous and the useless, the unused and the extra. January is for cleansing. I …
The first thing I did when I got up this morning was painting my toe nails. Coral Pink. And I put on a layer of clear ‘gel’ to make it last longer too. Why am I telling you this? I have no idea. Another early morning, another quiet morning if you don’t count the dog …
… aka ‘the busiest week I’ve ever known… The good thing is that this is the last post about the Literature Festival, the bad thing is that it’s a long one, so I’d suggest you grab a cup of whatever float your boat and get comfortable. (alternatively you can just switch off now, I won’t …
Not an apple pie, not an apple tart… just a simple, old fashioned apple cake. Delicious. In my old and tattered cookery book there’s the copy of an email that my mother sent me on Nov 18, 2000. Seeing the delivery address makes me feel funny… a month later I would say goodbye to my …
I’m writing this wearing a huge wool cardigan and looking at the grey sky through the kitchen window. We arrived back home yesterday afternoon… under the rain… and whilst for a split second the fresh air was welcome after the torrid heat of Italy, the novelty factor soon wore off. We were all kind of …
while you're ahead... 