The twinnies woke at 5 this morning. I’m on to my second cup of coffee and while they play with the dishwasher tablets in the cupboard under my feet, I’m throwing a brown sugar loaf cake (my new favourite recipe) into the oven. Mother’s of twins all need a piece of cake when this sleep […]
Five years ago now we were invited to dinner at the Scott’s place, a family with kids in the same class as our girls. I remember standing around their beautiful kitchen enjoying a glass of wine whilst watching Bel chop up some raw broccoli. She then proceeded to throw it into a big bowl, covering […]
My sister Elles Belles went to a dinner party recently. The host, Christine, who in her words “is a beautiful cook”, put on a magnificent spread; she sent me a photo and boy did it look good. From memory there was a bean dish, a loaf of homemade bread and a few scrummy looking salads. […]
Mum messaged our ‘Ladies of the Fam’ WhatsApp group the other day asking if “.. anyone has my sticky date recipe handy? I really must bring it to Culburra!” “No, I don’t. Sorry Mum”, Case replied. “Is it on the blog?” says Ali, seconds later… shortly before copying and pasting a link to the very […]
Potato bakes are like spaghetti bolognese. In the fact that although most versions use virtually the same ingredients, they always seem to taste so different. I find myself asking the question “what do you put in your potato bake?”, always curious to know what others do… come to think of it, I often find myself […]
It’s been a while since I’ve written a new blog post. Reason being is that I’ve been so crook with morning sickness. They say that being pregnant with twins will do that to you! I’ve wanted to share this no fuss chocolate pudding recipe with you for ages. It’s such a good one to have […]
Julia Child states that “any party without cake is just a meeting”. And I totally agree. Now I know that a pavlova isn’t technically a cake, falling more into the meringue category. But it’s close enough. We had friends over yesterday to watch the Wallabies play (we won!), where Cork Daddy dragged the telly outside, […]
The only thing better than a sponge cake is a chocolate sponge cake. Here I am finding a couple of quiet minutes in the day to bring you this celebration cake recipe. Early in the morning before the house is awake. Before the school rush starts and when everything is still; a thick frost outside, […]
Our best mate Geoff just bought a sous vide machine. A really good cook, you’d be hard pressed finding anyone who could grill a steak on the barbie better than Geoff. Geoff’s buying sous vide machines and I’m making curried sausages. Curried sausages that Nee, following in her late mum Lyn’s footsteps often makes when […]
I’ve just sat down to my computer for the first time in what feels like forever. I have so many software updates to do – (Hit DELETE, DELETE, DELETE) and if Apple tells me that I have to ‘manage my storage’ one more time I’m going to scream. Too busy have I been making sushi […]
You should of seen the size of the fox crossing the road this morning just outside the girls’ school! Trotting along like it owned the joint. Why did the chicken cross the road? I don’t know? To get away from the fox? Note to self: double, triple check that our chook house is fox proof. […]
I remember going to the Dural butcher years ago when staying at Mum and Dad’s for the weekend. Determined to crumb some lamb cutlets for tea, I recall counting out in my head how many I’d need to feed everyone. “I’ll get 20 lamb cutlets thanks”, I said convincingly as I happily watched the beautiful […]
We’re big in to Christmas trees in our house. Did you know that my Mum and Dad grow fresh pine trees, selling them at their ‘cut your own’ Christmas tree farm each year? For as long as I can remember we’ve always had a fresh tree, no fake plastic ones in sight. We’ve got many […]
Hands up if you’ve ever made a gingerbread house before? I love making one at this time of year. There’s something really nice and carefree about setting time aside to do nothing other than faff in the kitchen, designing and constructing your own little gingerbread house. With life feeling increasingly busier and busier, somehow it […]
It was snowing in Boorowa today. Snowing icing sugar that is. The girls and I sifted icing sugar snow not only over our fresh rosemary Christmas trees, but over half the kitchen. Such a sweet little decorating idea that can be used to top any cake at this time of year. All you need is […]
A favourite past time of mine is flicking through Nee’s old cookbooks; The Australian Women’s Weekly, ‘Best Ever Recipes’ cookbook – the best. I’m yet to make anything out of it that hasn’t worked. This ginger cake being a perfect example. It’s great because you don’t need any fancy ingredients and I couldn’t get over […]
We didn’t grow up eating potato gnocchi. My sister Casey can attest to that. During high school she was in a public speaking competition. Dad reckons she “had it in the bag” after absolutely killing her prepared monologue and of course without bias thought she was a shoe in for a place. The contestants were […]
Homemade focaccia. Sounds like an effort. Can I let you in on a secret, it’s actually not. This is simple and easy cooking, one for the novice cook. And after making it a couple of times you’ll be able to do it in your sleep. I know for the ‘focaccia first timers’ you might read […]
I have the memory of an elephant. Oh hang on. No I don’t. Do they have good memories or bad? I forget. I have the memory of whatever animal is really bad at remembering things. Take this recipe for example. I have been racking my brain to try and remember which friend of mine introduced […]
Do you ever watch ‘Surfing the Menu’ on SBS Food? Old school Curtis Stone and Ben O’Donohue – it’s really good. I remember seeing an episode years ago where they made some one-pot-wonder seafood creation in front of the Sydney Opera House. Now it’s really weird but all I can remember about that dish was […]
