Category: Writing

  • The Waterway Review: Gorgeous View, Disappointing Food

    The Waterway Review: Gorgeous View, Disappointing Food

    Many believe you can’t go wrong with gastro-pub grub. Others, including myself, think that it has a time and a place, ideally at actual gastro-pubs where the main courses cost a tenner, not at canal-side alfresco restaurants. Dining in the sun is in demand once again, and it just cries out for the flavours of…

  • Hummingbird Cupcakes with Coconut and Passion Fruit

    Hummingbird Cupcakes with Coconut and Passion Fruit

    When I moved to the south of France, I expected skies in the exact shade of blue of a Swedish hunk’s eyes, sun-drenched river banks, warm terracotta soaking up the sun, and me, lounging in my garden leisurely sipping a cocktail. Now, a year later, I can only testify to the heavy shelf of cloud…

  • Spaghetti with Prawns and Whisky Cream Sauce

    Spaghetti with Prawns and Whisky Cream Sauce

    In my opinion, it’s not a habit to serve spaghetti with prawns and whisky. Correct me if I’m wrong. To me, whisky is that unfathomable drink, ferociously harsh and unapologetically alcoholic, that lawyers manage to knock back without even a grimace in courtroom dramas. But this unusual combination of spaghetti with prawns and whisky sauce…

  • The 4 Best Pickles

    The 4 Best Pickles

    There is something utterly charming about France beyond the bicycles, baguettes and éclairs, and that’s their love of jars. Chickpeas, crème fraiche, and my precious pâtés and rillettes all come in elegant glass jars, and it’s just so rustic and homely scraping crème fraiche out of a jar, why don’t we do it everywhere? Recycling…

  • French recipe: Crab Soufflés

    French recipe: Crab Soufflés

    To conclude February, my food bucket list of 2022 begins, commencing with these light, creamy crab soufflés, an easy yet outrageously decadent lunch for you to treat yourself! In case you missed it, I’ve chosen 10 delicious recipes to make this year – a hopefully easy-to-achieve number, especially as I’ve waited until 27th February to…

  • The Ultimate Tuna Melt

    The Ultimate Tuna Melt

    In my opinion, lunchtimes don’t get any better than a tuna melt, full of molten cheese. But can such perfection be improved? Nostalgia is a peculiar thing. Flavour is a major culprit. Just the smell of certain foods can transport us back to our childhoods – whether it’s a snack, drink or particular ice cream,…

  • My Food Bucket List: 2022

    My Food Bucket List: 2022

    January is month of philosophising. I live in my head as the year abruptly changes and I seem to think it’s like cleaning out the attic – shifting around boxes of to-do lists, piles of hopes and dreams, trying to gain some sense of order. This way, I think we all feel like we can…

  • French cooking: Tartiflette

    French cooking: Tartiflette

    I’ve eaten an eye-watering amount of processed meat recently. They say a diet of processed meat is bad for you, but when push comes to shove, I bet whoever ‘they’ are would submit to that meat coma with the rest of us. I emerged from this pork-induced fog after eating four-days’ worth of rillettes, saucisson,…

  • The 7 things I’ve learnt in France

    The 7 things I’ve learnt in France

    Last October, I moved to France. In the grand scheme of things, it was incredibly low-key. It was a mere skip over the English Channel (the sea which I have since learnt – but it somehow didn’t make it onto this list – is not called le canal d’anglais, but La Manche which just reads…

  • Apple, maple and thyme porridge

    Apple, maple and thyme porridge

    Is there such a thing as a French breakfast? In many ways, France is considered to be THE country of sophistication – think long thin cigarettes (back when they were cool though), black turtlenecks (yesterday, at least three of us rocked one and, interestingly, I was the only female), and a glass of wine in…