Christmas with Baz and Trish

by | Dec 28, 2015 | Journal

Christmas with Baz and Trish During the weeks leading up to Christmas in London, I was overwhelmed by the number of English celebrity chefs and cooks giving advice in the newspapers about how to prepare this year’s festive meal. The Times featured Mary Berry’s easy...

The Bolzano Christmas Market, Italy

by | Dec 13, 2015 | Journal

The Bolzano Christmas Market, Italy Gazing up at the glorious Christmas tree in front of me in the northern Italian town of Bolzano, suddenly I felt like a kid again. Festooned with twinkling lights and red and gold stars, it was one of the best I’d ever seen and...

Under The Giglio Sun

by | Nov 22, 2015 | Journal

Under The Giglio Sun “Ciao!” came a voice from down the hill. A portly man in a bright red shirt with a shock of white hair emerged from behind a lemon tree. He made his way slowly through the vines towards a rustic hut (or ‘capanno’), followed by two dogs, both...

Sweet Treats of Giglio

by | Nov 8, 2015 | Journal

Sweet Treats of Giglio Chef Claudio Bossini had just finished mincing the macerated figs for the panficato, a rich dark sweet Christmas confection made each year on Giglio, a small island off the coast of Tuscany, when suddenly the sounds of a brass band could be...

The Truffle Eaters

by | Nov 1, 2015 | Journal

The Truffle Eaters Whenever I hold a Mini Chef cooking class with chocolate truffles on the menu, there’s an avalanche of bookings. It’s not only because children love chocolate, it’s also because they so enjoy rolling the soft, sticky mixture into...

In the Pumpkin Patch in Vermont

by | Oct 17, 2015 | Journal

In the Pumpkin Patch in Vermont It’s not every day I find myself in a pumpkin patch. But I just couldn’t resist getting in amongst these Jack O’Lanterns at Shelburne Orchards, just south of Burlington in Vermont, north-east U.S.A. For many years,...