Author Archives: Becky

You might have noticed that the last two videos have been soups. There really is nothing else which warms you up quite so well on a chilly winters day. They are so economical as they usually contain very little meat but a lot of vegetables in a tasty broth and many recipes allow for flexibilityContinue reading “Super soup”

Like most people I really hope it will be different from 2020, not just healthier but better in so many ways. The roll out of the vaccine can’t happen quickly enough for me, so I can hug my friends and family without fear and talk without a mask so we can all see each other,Continue reading “Happy new year!”

Maths was my worst subject at school. No teacher could ever explain why I needed to learn about logs, anti-logs, slide rules, sine, cosine or tangent. Show me a knitting pattern and I panic, my brain gets dizzy. But a recipe….. now that’s something quite different and my mental maths is fine. When I wokeContinue reading “Countdown to Christmas”

The decorations have started to go up, as I’d intended, but there have been some interruptions, so I need to dig out the boxes again and make the house look a bit more festive. It all started with my auntie of 98 pressing her panic button when the crumpet she was toasting caused the toasterContinue reading “It’s been a funny old week.”

Having been involved in a competition I just need to tell y’all that there are some very good (and very bad) mince pies out there. I promise you that my recipe is truly better than anything else I’ve tasted. So if you plan to make some, make mine. OK?

…quite a bit like Christmas – not least because several of our neighbours have installed hundreds of multi-coloured flashing fairy lights which brighten the gloom for several hours each day. Not subtle enough for me, sadly, but our decorations will begin to appear very soon if I get my way. A small tree on theContinue reading “It’s beginning to feel…..”

I promise you that I am not a political person, but the recent governmental plans for the 3 tiers within England have left me so cross. The advice which followed – don’t play board games at Christmas, celebrate outdoors (in December?), delay your celebration till next year – all of this is absolutely ridiculous. Don’tContinue reading “What a muddle.”

Have you had a chance to look at this week’s recipe and video yet? It’s for slow-cooked ragu, also known as bolognese in this country and is a recipe I gleaned when cooking with Giovanna in her outdoor kitchen near Parma. Little did we know, when the video went live, that there was already anContinue reading “The Great Bolognese Debate”

One of my earliest memories is of a very large chicken being delivered by the butcher ready to cook for Christmas dinner. It came complete with giblets which sat in a bowl of water ready to be cooked and used for the gravy. I was fascinated by this bowl of weirdness and it took manyContinue reading “Chicken”

Last week a lovely friend was discussing friendship cake – do you remember it? Many years ago I was given a jar of brown sludge, which was the starter, and a sheet of instructions. We had a young baby and my head simply didn’t have the capacity for something else that needed to be nurtured.Continue reading “Friendship (+ cake)”