After the eldest and I went to the dentist on Thursday night, we popped into JB HiFi to check out the DVDs. Yeah, yeah, I get how fabulous Netflix is, but I’m still hooked on those shiny round discs. My retro obsession means the spare room looks like a Video EZY store. It's been sooooo... Continue Reading →

I was in the shower at 8.20am yesterday morning, midway through washing my hair, when the lights went out. I was perplexed. NBN had texted to say there would be an outage in my street between 8 and noon. I’d prepared for the inconvenience by researching four stories I needed to write for a client... Continue Reading →

I was pretty happy with how these recipes turned out, though the kids reckon I didn't add enough salt. The rice salad is a recipe that reminds me of Christmas - it was always served at my ex-husband's family celebrations. I brushed the roast chicken with a little chilli oil belonging to the youngest -... Continue Reading →

I was supposed to make things easier for myself this week by cooking exactly the same dishes for everyone. So I dutifully contemplated three dishes both families would enjoy and decided on lamb koftas, butter chicken and meat pies. But it seemed too pedestrian, so I pimped up the koftas into a full-on feast and... Continue Reading →

It was a mega week for cooking in the HotHouse Kitchen. I created a Thai feast, plus Greek slow-roasted lamb and a gnocchi bake. And that's just the stuff I made for other people! I was so fed up with preparing food that I got Thai takeaway on Thursday night, while my friends had the... Continue Reading →

Welcome to another instalment of the HotHouse Kitchen. I’m not sure if the dishes I made this week were easier or whether I’m simply getting the hang of cooking three dinners on a Tuesday. But I was very calm and collected when I packaged everything up at 5pm and dropped it to my friend’s house.... Continue Reading →

I resurrected an old favourite in the HotHouse Kitchen this week. I first blogged the recipe back in 2015: Roast chicken with pumpkin, butterbeans & goat's cheese. A former colleague once told me over drinks - when we could indulge in such pursuits - that it regularly features on the menu at her place and... Continue Reading →

Welcome to another instalment of the HotHouse Kitchen. I’m finding it can be stressful cooking for another family, as you worry that you haven't nailed it. This week, my child tasted my pot pies, screwed up her nose, said they tasted funny and told me not to make them again. I was a little freaked... Continue Reading →

I remembered to take photos of my food this week, but they’re not very good! The lighting isn't great at dinner time during winter and I'm too busy serving to do pretty plating. While they’re not much to look at, they tasted yum. There was also a roast pumpkin & chickpea massaman curry that my... Continue Reading →

So much for photographing my recipes ... I forgot again. It gets so frantic at the pointy end of the day when I'm rushing to deliver three meals to a hungry family down the road. So, the main pic comes from Betty Crocker and her cauliflower mac & cheese recipe is a "skinny" one. Mine... Continue Reading →