About Home Canning & Other Preservation Methods

I’m very used to making jams, jellies, chutneys, ketchups and pickles, all of which require basic sterilisation of jars, easy recipes and a straightforward process to fill and seal the jars. In these recipes boiling helps kill harmful bacteria and yeasts as well as reducing the moisture in which they thrive; sugar or acid stops ... Read more »

Recipe Roundup | Ice Creams with Dried Fruits and Nuts

Ice cream isn’t the most obvious thing to be making when it’s cold and dark outside and there’s a thick blanket of snow on the ground for much of the month. But a few committed ice cream lovers joined me anyway and shared their recipes using dried fruit or nuts. I dithered over what to ... Read more »

Kavey’s Apple, Date & Ginger Chutney

The two apple trees on our allotment gave us a whopping 55 kilos of apples this year; 34 kilos of cookers and 22 kilos of eating apples. And that’s just what we picked – we left some cookers on the tree for our plot neighbour to enjoy. Some of them we processed at the time, ... Read more »

Kaiseki Ryori at Ryokan Kankaso in Nara

One of the (many) pleasures of staying in a Japanese ryokan is the wonderful traditional food served for both breakfast and dinner.   Kaiseki ryori is a traditional multi-course meal consisting of a succession of seasonal, local and beautifully presented little dishes. Although its origins are in the simple dishes served as part of a ... Read more »

Neil Rankin at John Salt – Innovative Without Being Wanky

Sometimes being a blogger is a hard life! OK, stop laughing, I was kidding! There are some bloody marvellous invitations… In the biting cold of early January I made my way to John Salt in Angel to attend a test and review evening by chef Neil Rankin, two nights before he opened to the public. ... Read more »

Coffee, Rum & Walnut Brittle Ice Cream

My walnut brittle was so delicious it’s a miracle I managed to set some aside to make ice cream as planned! Once again, I opted to use fresh ready made vanilla custard as my base, adding coffee, rum and walnut brittle. Because Pete isn’t a huge fan of nuts, I made the coffee and rum ... Read more »

How To Make Walnut Brittle

Having decided to make myself some Coffee Rum & Walnut Brittle Ice Cream, the first step was to make the brittle. I knew I had a bag of French walnuts sitting in the airing cupboard, gathered from the grounds of a friend’s home in Corrèze, dried in the sun and delivered to me as a very ... Read more »

Visiting Abisko, Lappland, Sweden

    Abisko is located in Northern Sweden, right up at the top of Swedish Lapland and well within the Arctic circle. With very little light pollution and prevalent weather patterns which usually keep skies clear of clouds, it’s considered to be one of the best places to see the Northern Lights.     Whilst ... Read more »

Mitarashi Dango

Mitarashi Dango is a popular snack in Takayama. Sold by larger shops and tiny stalls, available hot or cold, this tasty skewered snack consists of sweet glutinous dumplings made from mochiko (rice flour) and basted in a sweet soy glaze. Miso and green tea versions are available, but the soy glazed one seemed most prevalent ... Read more »

Billy Law’s Coca Cola Chilli Chicken

Already a popular blogger, Billy Law came to far better known after reaching the top seven of Australian Masterchef 2011. His first cookbook, Have You Eaten? reflects his eclectic and wide-ranging cooking, including of the cuisine of his native Malaysia as well as a wide range of Eastern and Western dishes and influences. Read more ... Read more »