Journal

22 July, 2020

Meditation on Quinces

It had a cloak of ash-coloured down hovering over its smooth golden body, and when it lay naked in my hand, with nothing more than its daffodil-coloured shift, it made me think of her I cannot mention, and I feared the ardour of my breath would shrivel it in my fingers. Isn’t that Aphrodite’s apple? … Continue reading →
7 June, 2020

One Banana, Two Banana…

Here’s a curious fact: the banana is actually not a fruit at all, but really a giant broadleaf herb.Now grown throughout the world, it is believed to be one of the first plants gathered and cultivated by humans. Edible bananas originated in south-east Asia in the region stretching from New Guinea to India and were … Continue reading →
2 June, 2020

Virtual Cocktails @Dante NYC

Want to learn how to make a classic Negroni from the owners of the Best Bar in the World? CBS Sunday Morning just featured my son, Linden Pride, and his partner Nathalie Hudson, both of whom run Dante NYC, doing just that in a segment on their show. One very proud mum.
30 May, 2020

The Cake-maker: National Reconciliation Week 2020

I felt like sobbing when I heard Aboriginal artist, Sandra Hill, speaking on the ABCRN Arts Show yesterday. This particular segment, where she is talking about her “Home-maker Series” (specifically “The Cake-maker”) brought tears to my eyes: “It’s a personal thing about an older white woman and a young girl making a cake. “An Aboriginal … Continue reading →
4 April, 2020

Pantry Essentials

My store cupboard is always stocked with a few tins of chickpeas and a variety of beans. Knowing they’re there, I can rest assured that a simple meal is always at hand. With the chickpeas, for instance, I can make a tasty salad (with tomatoes, spring onions, fresh parsley and a vinaigrette dressing). Occasionally I’ll … Continue reading →
1 April, 2020

One-a-penny, two-a-penny…

Have you ever smelt hot cross buns baking in a home oven?  If you have, you won’t have forgotten for the aroma is irresistible. And if you’ve actually eaten a spicy, buttery but-oh-so-light bun, fresh from the oven, you’d find it hard – if not downright impossible – to go back to those tasteless doughy … Continue reading →
9 March, 2020

Fabulous Figs

Fig tree, for such a long time I have found meaningin the way you almost completely omit your blossomsand urge your pure mystery, unproclaimed, into the early ripening fruit. Rainer Maria Rilke, from The Sixth Elegy “Ancient, mysterious and delicious, the fig should be more widely grown than it is,” writes David Stuart in The … Continue reading →
7 March, 2020

April 2020 School Holiday Kids Cooking Classes

Hurry, hurry: don’t forget to book the kids in to my Mini Chef  kids cooking classes during the April school holidays (April 13th -24th). We’ll be making a wide range of delicious, nutritious dishes including homemade chicken noodle soup, hummus,  guacamole, homemade pizzas,  sushi, chicken yakitori,  spaghetti bolognese, tiramisu, double chocolate brownies, marshmallow pavlova and … Continue reading →
12 February, 2020

Apples of Love for Valentine’s Day

A tiny village in Valencia, Spain, hosts a tomato festival, La Tomatina, each year at the height of summer.  Actually it sounds to me more like a tomato war than a celebration of the most popular fruit vegetable in the world. At the festival a few years ago 30,000 people from around the world descended … Continue reading →
24 January, 2020

What’s cookin’ on Australia Day?

What’s on your Australia Day menu? Kanga burgers? Hot Smoked Lemon Myrtle Crocodile?  Barramundi with Green Ants?  Wattleseed pavlova? Just kidding. But it’s odd, isn’t it, how we still shy away from using native Australian ingredients in our cuisine. Here we live on a continent which offers up to 4,000 different varieties of edible bush … Continue reading →
10 November, 2019

Karma, Kindness and Ottolenghi’s Food Smiles

“What is karma?”  That was the question which bookended the first and last day at the recent Ubud Writers & Readers Festival in Bali. Having spent a few years immersed in Tibetan Buddhism (though never signing up to their belief in reincarnation), I was intrigued to hear what some of the internationally diverse writers invited … Continue reading →
14 July, 2019

Snail Trail En Provence

The sweet smell of freshly baked biscuits was wafting through the air as we walked along the leafy path to the Savoirs et Saveurs de Montagne market near Gap, capital of the Haute-Alpes department in south-eastern France. But it wasn’t until I had passed by stalls laden with local honey, goats cheeses, potted herbs, home-made … Continue reading →
5 May, 2019

Lost in Japan

I had no idea what I was getting myself into when I agreed to accompany my sister Justy and her partner on a recent trip to Japan. She was keen to see more than the usual tourist sites in Tokyo and Kyoto, as was I, and to include a few days skiing in Nozawaonsen, a … Continue reading →
1 April, 2019

Easter School Holiday Kids Cooking Classes

Hurry, hurry: don’t forget to book the kids in to my Mini Chef kids cooking classes during the Easter school holidays:  Monday April 15th –  Friday 26th, 10.30am – 1.30pm. My kids’ cooking classes aim to teach children to prepare a wholesome, nutritious meal which they love to eat and can reproduce easily at home. … Continue reading →
12 November, 2018

Edible Christmas Cooking Classes

What gift do you most treasure at Christmas?  For me, the most precious is the home-made present, the one which expresses something of the personality of the giver.  It doesn’t matter how wacky it is.  In fact, its very imperfection is  part of its charm and humour. Some of my most treasured possessions are those … Continue reading →