Category: Writing
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Healthy banana oat pancakes with pink peppercorn plums
Banana oat pancakes were my fanfare for 2023. I lined up all the ingredients on my parents’ glittery red countertop (it’s not the only part of the new house that will be evicted but it will potentially be the most satisfying) and methodically measured everything into a jug then whizzed it all into a gloopy […]
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Gingerbread marshmallows
I appear to have travelled through time. I blinked and somehow it’s advent. Time travel is clearly the only logical answer – although the time machine would have to be invisible and is probably parked in one of the few unused parking spaces outside. Oh and all users would have to have their memories magically […]
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French cooking: Pain au chocolat
What are the first three foods that come to mind when you think about France? Take your time, I will wait. Ready? Let’s see – I assume baguettes are up there? Baguettes seem to grow like grass here. What about delicate pastries like eclairs? Or their 1600 cheeses? Basically, anything involving butter? France is pretty […]
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Toffee Apple Pie
The beginning of November is marked by a sudden chill in the air, cold hands and feet for people with poor circulation (including yours truly), conkers and shiny toffee apples. Or at least, the toffee apples make an appearance in the UK, the same can’t be said for here in France. So, to recreate that […]
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The 4 Best Toast Toppings
The easiest snack in the world. It’s a piece of cake, or should I say, toast. If there is a snack that can withstand all weathers, it is toast. From Welsh rarebit dripping with cheese in the winter to summer bruschetta with tomatoes, mozzarella and basil, toast is an ideal vehicle for taking those toppings […]
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How to make crumpets
Gaylord will be the first to tell you that I am a messy cook. According to him, when he’s faced with the washing up which I always insist ‘really isn’t that much!’, I have somehow managed to use every pan that we own to make breakfast. In my defence, Turkish eggs – poached eggs served […]
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French cooking: Creamy leek and potato soup
To quote Elizabeth Gilbert, since living in France, “I’ve been doing rude things to my body.” However, it seems unlikely that this leek and potato soup will help. While Liz made sweet love to pizza and pasta and gelato in Rome over the course of four months in her book ‘Eat, Pray, Love’, I have […]
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Classic lasagne with three cheeses
Before you immediately click off this recipe because of course you know how to make lasagne, or you may be apologetically shrugging as if to say ‘so sorry Ally but my mum’s recipe for lasagne is unbeatable’, I’m just going to quickly say – you haven’t tried this lasagne. And I’m also going to place […]
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How to make the best charcuterie board
It was during my first visit to see Gaylord in France that I realised how seriously the French take charcuterie. While it took me another year to eat snails, then a whole year after that I finally encountered frogs legs, charcuterie has been a weekly snack since my plane touched down in 2020. As you […]
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Sign up to my newsletter!
We all have full inboxes – once upon a time, I signed up to two separate language-learning email lists to teach me French, have I ever read their updates? No. How’s my French going? Terribly. However, what if I could offer you a newsletter that, unlike these emails sitting in my inbox, doesn’t require any […]