Rhubarb

Who doesn’t love rhubarb? I wasn’t a fan for many years, most of my life in fact. I had only ever been presented rhubarb as a stewed pudding ingredient. Around 2017, I discovered some new ways to think about rhubarb and I wrote a blog post about my rhubarb discoveries. Since then I have seen … Continue reading Rhubarb

Eat

Eat – the little book of fast food by Nigel Slater, Fourth Estate, 2013 I was given this book as a gift about ten years ago. I love the concept.  It is a small readable book containing “over 600 ideas for dinner. Straightforward, delicious cooking. For the times we just want to eat.”  It’s a … Continue reading Eat

Spring Table

Australian Gourmet Traveller October 2009, Spring table I bought this magazine in November 2009 and I cooked at least two things from it as evidenced in an earlier blog post. While the magazine is titled “spring table” and is definitely seasonal, the recipes are also distinctly Spanish. We started on soup Monday with pea and … Continue reading Spring Table

Food heroes

Rick Stein’s Food heroes, Rick Stein, BBC Books, 2002 Another Helping, BBC Books, 2004 We really enjoyed both seasons of this Rick Stein series and we bought, or perhaps were given the book from series two. We cooked from it a lot and later bought the book from series one. We rarely cooked from this … Continue reading Food heroes

Borlotti beans

Last year I came across a few recipes for fresh borlotti beans, so I decided to grow some. I wasn’t hopeful of success, but I was very pleasantly surprised. They grow very well in our garden. You can eat them when young, as runner beans, or leave to mature on the plant and pod them … Continue reading Borlotti beans

Fast diet

Fast Diet recipe book, Short Books, 2013 The Fast Diet was all the rage in 2013 and I had quite a few friends who followed it. I noticed this book in a book shop and some of the recipes were very appealing. This was before I was a reformed compulsive cookbook buyer, and I bought … Continue reading Fast diet

Soups and stews

Cook’s Illustrated Soups and Stews, Winter 2009 In the northern hemisphere autumn of 1999, I was invited to speak at an intranet conference in San José. There were a lot of firsts about this trip. This was the first time I had been to this part of the US, and I loved it. It is … Continue reading Soups and stews

The Great British Issue

Australian Gourmet Traveller June 2012, the Great British issue As I have commented earlier, a friend passed these magazines on and I for some reason just shelved them, neither using them nor passing them to someone who will. Now is the time. I made almost everything on p44. I did not make smoked trout kedgeree, … Continue reading The Great British Issue

Dinner at home

Dinner at home by Lois Daish, Bridget Williams Books, 1993 I am a very long time Lois Daish fan. When I lived in London my mother used to send me Lois’ recipes from the Listener. When I came Wellington, in the mid-1980s, I regularly frequented the Mt Cook Café, where the Louisiana chicken salad was … Continue reading Dinner at home

Slow food cookbook

Slow food cookbook, Australian Gourmet Traveller Collector’s Edition, 2011 I am sometimes given Australian Gourmet Traveller magazine by a friend, and I always enjoy it. This special issue promised 387 gorgeous ideas to warm your kitchen. I expect that is why I bought it. So why did I never cook a recipe from it? I … Continue reading Slow food cookbook