We celebrated my mum’s 70th birthday last weekend and I decided to create a Southern feast inspired by my recent trip to Charleston, South Carolina. Eight hours later … it was ready. Homemade lemonade? Check. Buffalo wings? Check. Blue cheese dressing? Check. Cornbread? Check. Meatloaf? Check. Mac n’ cheese? Check. Mashed potatoes? Check. Salad? Check. […]

Dinner is so Groundhog Day when you have kids. Sometimes it seems like all I ever do – when I’m not working – is go to the supermarket, stagger home with the shopping and cook (with a little recreational blogging after I stack the dishwasher). Sprog 2 grouched the other day that I’m “always in […]

It’s Easter, so why not whip up a recipe that allows you to gobble even more chocolate. If you have excess hollow easter eggs lying around, you could even break them up into pieces to use instead. RECIPE: Orange & dark choc muffins 4 oranges, peeled and pith/skin etc removed (ie flesh only) 2/3 cup […]

My love affair with granita continues. I may never made another dessert. My latest icy treats: Bellini granita (inspired by the famous Ernest Hemmingway cocktail) and pear granita. Nom, nom, nom. Recipe: Bellini granita 6 ripe peaches 3/4 cup caster sugar 1 cup water 2 tablespoons lemon juice 375ml prosecco METHOD:  Blanch peaches in boiling […]

I had a couple of salmon fillets in the fridge the other day, but I wasn’t in the mood for my usual holier-than-thou grilled with salad option. So I came up with this pasta dish instead. Much naughtier but delish! My eldest gobbled it up too. She’s getting to be quite the little foodie. As […]

OK, so this farking cold just keeps keeping on. Fark it. And it’s starting to put me off my food. It takes a lot to put me off my food. Trying to decide what to have for dinner is tricky, nothing appeals. I had spag bol on Friday and may never be able to face […]

Friends came to dinner on Saturday night and I had an excess of veggies in the crisper so I made a Malaysian feast in their honour. Perhaps a bit too much belachan in the pumpkin and orange curry so I won’t blog that recipe, but the rest was a hit. Especially the roti bread (bought […]

Farmer’s Direct keep sending me pears – they must be in season – and I keep forgetting to get Husband and Sprog 1 to eat them. (There’s no way Sprog 2 or I are going anywhere near a fresh pear.) So they keep going brown and mushy. I decided I couldn’t let the most expensive […]

I’ve been getting adventurous with Sprog 1′s lunchboxes. As regular readers can probably guess, Sprog 2 isn’t an adventurous lunchbox girl, she’s been known to request plain Cruskits for morning tea and buttered bread for lunch. But Sprog 1 loves being my guinea pig, so here’s what I made her last week. Husband went mad […]

Three Novocastrian friends popped over for an impromptu lunch last Saturday. Husband had taken the car to work, so I had to rely on the contents of my fridge. Fortunately the Farmer’s Direct weekly order that I’d put on hold for six weeks while on “holiday” because I’m too cowardly to cancel it, had kicked […]