If ever there was a time of year to spend more time outside rather than less, Summer is it, and for me that includes taking every opportunity to cook outside (with the limited time we have left). There’s something quite set apart from the pressure of ‘having to make dinner’, when you are chatting to friends and family, with a drink in hand around a barbecue. It’s a communal way of cooking in a sense, and I love that. -MB Read the rest...
Want to know what kitchen essentials Maggie can't live without? Then keep on reading.... Read the rest...
Keeping things simple and seasonal is perhaps easiest of all with Summertime produce, so the following menu suggestion is about beautiful ingredients, prepared in a way that may not be everyday fare, to lend that special celebratory feeling to your Valentine's Day. Read the rest...
When we bought our cottage nearly 20 years ago, one of its most endearing aspects was the maze of strawberry plants, growing wild in all sorts of nooks and crannies around the property. I have always adored wandering around the yard, pinching strawberries, still warm from the sun, to pop in my mouth as I tend to the garden. Left to ripen on the bush and eaten without refrigeration there is no better way to welcome the warm weather than with strawberries. Read the rest...
I have loved trifle ever since I was a child. Was it being able to eat right down to the bottom of the bowl where I’d find the sherry-soaked cake, or was it the jelly and the fruit? Whatever it was, I have never tired of eating trifle. This version is a bit fancy, I grant, you, but it’s easily within the province of the home cook. It can be a wonderful way to use leftovers too, or sit with equal splendour on the table for a special occasion. -MB Read the rest...
