Sharing a love of good food - recipes from my kitchen - eating out - great producers & suppliers
Dog Friendly Eating & Drinking in Staffordshire is a personal guide to my favourite independent dog friendly pubs, restaurants and cafes in the county. Besides enjoying the outdoors with my cocker spaniel Larkin, eating and drinking is how I spend a lot of my leisure …Read more
Wild garlic, in season from March to June, is a wonderful (and free!) ingredient. Found in most of Britain, it’s probably the most easily recognisable foraged food, making it perfect for beginners. In this post I’ll tell you where to look for wild garlic, how to identify …Read more
It warms my heart that many of my most popular recipes are simple, old-fashioned ones. A version of this post first appeared in the Moorlands Eater Newsletter. The urge to write about ‘old-fashioned’ or traditional British recipes came to me after posting my blog …Read more
The Saturday Lunch Train on the Churnet Valley Railway is an experience not to be missed. In this post I tell you all about my recent trip and why I highly recommend it. Whether you’re a rail enthusiast or just want to step back into …Read more
Northumberland seafood is some of the best available. And I ate lots of it when I spent a week’s holiday there earlier this month. In this post, I share the highlights from eating out in this seafood-lover’s heaven – and include a heartfelt thanks to …Read more
Jam making needn’t be difficult or involve lots of fancy equipment. In this beginner’s guide I’ll tell you everything you need to know as well as taking you through the process step-by-step. Although all the jam recipes on my blog give full instructions, here I’ve …Read more
The Staffordshire Oatcake Company produces a just-add-water mix, formulated to a traditional recipe, making it easier to cook this North Staffordshire favourite in your own kitchen. I was sent a packet of Oatcake Mix to try, and in this post show you what you can …Read more
Dalton’s Dairy is a family-run affair based on their farm in Wootton, east Staffordshire. At the heart of the business are grass fed cows whose milk is turned into quality handmade products. I was recently invited to try their cheese and butter and loved it. …Read more
Sprouting at home all kinds of seeds and beans is incredibly easy. In this post I show you how to get super-fresh, crunchy sprouts in just 3-5 days. I’ll tell you what simple equipment you need, which seeds and beans to sprout, how to do …Read more
Moorland Veg Box delivers fresh, organic fruit and vegetables direct to your door. Based in the Staffordshire Moorlands, but also delivering around Buxton, Macclesfield, Ashbourne, Uttoxeter, Stone and Stoke-on-Trent, I recently tried one of their veg boxes. Initially not sure if veg boxes were for me; …Read more
Holy Bread is a new bakery business in Leek, Staffordshire. Started just last month, they’ve got off to a flying start with the orders pouring in. The husband and wife team currently produce handmade, artisan bagels in a range of tasty flavours and deliver them …Read more
The Staffordshire Cheese Company has been making artisan cheese for over twenty-five years. I recently spent a day in their creamery in Cheddleton, learning about and watching them produce their award-winning, handmade cheeses. I even played a teeny part in the production of one of …Read more
Chocao, a new cacao gin liqueur, is the result of a collaboration between two great Staffordshire independents. Its official launch is coming up later this month, but here I have a sneak preview for you. I’ve also given links to launch events where you can …Read more
Did you go out for Burns Night last weekend? I got my celebrating in early when I was lucky enough to be invited to The Old Mill in Leek. In honour of the Scottish poet, the smokehouse hosted a Whisky Night featuring Distilled Events. Along …Read more
Fanny Cradock’s multi-faceted and fascinating life is laid bare in Keep Calm and Fanny On! The Many Careers of Fanny Cradock by Kevin Geddes. I began by knowing little about this prolific TV cook, journalist, travel writer, poet, novelist, campaigner and businesswoman with a reputation …Read more
Don’t you love finding evidence of previous owners in used books? Maybe just a neatly written name on the flyleaf and some underlining. Or, in cookery books, splashes of sauce or perhaps recipes satisfyingly ticked off as the owner cooked them. In this post I …Read more
The Foxlowe Arts Centre in Leek has been holding its annual Apple Fest for a number of years now. So, as I go food shopping in Leek most Saturdays and visit the Foxlowe fairly regularly (not least to have a mooch among the local art …Read more
Stone Food & Drink Festival, now in its fifteenth year, seems to be going from strength to strength. Held over the first weekend in October, the 2019 Festival drew huge crowds to the Staffordshire town. As on a number of other years, I joined them …Read more
Are you thinking of starting a food blog or beginning some other form of food writing? In this post I share a few of the tips I’ve picked up to help make your food writing stand out. Earlier this month, I was invited onto BBC …Read more
Anglesey, off the north coast of Wales, is rightly becoming ever more popular. We love it, not just for its stunning beaches and clifftop scenery, but also for its impressive local food scene. In this post I share with you some of my foodie highlights …Read more
Now in its eleventh year, Congleton Food & Drink Festival attracts thousands of people to this Cheshire market town. I went along to the most recent event to sample what was on offer and to bring a nice little haul of goodies home too. A …Read more
Pea Shoots are really easy to grow at home. All you need is a windowsill. So forget those bags of limp supermarket ones, cut days ago and trucked around the country. Grow your own and you’ll have super-fresh pea shoots whenever you want. If you’ve …Read more
Feast Stone is the Staffordshire market town’s new street food event. I went along to the first one to see what it was all about & was mightily impressed. Last night saw the first street food event in Stone, the market town which is home …Read more
Microgreens, packed with nutrition and flavour, are incredibly easy to grow at home. In this post I show you how. While a huge proportion of our food these days is transported across (and, even worse, flown over) the world, what could be more local …Read more
Seed Chocolate is one of only a handful of ‘bean to bar’ chocolate makers in the UK. Importing cacao beans directly from family farms and cooperatives, they make their unique, award-winning chocolate from scratch in my home county of Staffordshire. In this post I’ll tell …Read more