Sharing a love of good food - recipes from my kitchen - eating out - great producers & suppliers
Picnic food doesn’t have to be all about sandwiches. In this post I share some of my favourite recipes for a tasty, varied picnic. From fresh salads, savoury bakes, pies and dips to sweet treats, you’ll find lots to tempt you outdoors with your picnic …Read more
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
I’d love to be able to write full blog reviews of all my eating out recommendations. But, timewise, it’s not possible. So, here’s the latest of my occasional round-up posts featuring some of the independent cafes, pubs, restaurants, and takeaways I’ve enjoyed recently. Among this …Read more
The Hammersley Restaurant at Stoke-on-Trent College is staffed by hospitality and catering students gaining experience in a real work environment. But even if it wasn’t such a fantastic project, I’d still urge you to eat there. Because there aren’t many restaurants where you can eat …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
I’d love to be able to write full blog posts about all the great local, independent food and drink I enjoy. But, if I did, I’d have no time for anything else. So, here’s one of my occasional round-up posts: this time featuring my autumn …Read more
I’d love to have been able to write full blog posts about all the great food and drink I enjoyed this summer. But, if I did, I’d have no time for anything else! So, here’s one of my occasional round-up posts: this time featuring my …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
Nasturtium Capers, with their piquant flavour, are an easy homemade alternative to capers. In fact, they’re not related to capers at all. They’re simply the pickled seeds of a colourful and common garden plant. Look among the leaves when your nasturtium plants have flowered, and you’ll …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
The Old Mill Smokehouse in Leek, like many other restaurants having to adapt to the coronavirus restrictions, currently offers a takeaway menu. I tried it last week to see if it lived up to the great food I’d eaten in the restaurant on my previous …Read more
Spicy Lanka in Burslem was my introduction to Sri Lankan food last night. Unable to visit the restaurant due to the Covid-19 lockdown, I enjoyed a range of well-flavoured, interesting dishes from their great value takeaway menu. And I can’t wait until they open up …Read more
As I write, restaurants, cafes and pubs are closed due to the Covid-19 pandemic. But that doesn’t mean you can’t eat from some of your favourite places. Many now offer a takeaway service, and this week I tried that from Primo Piano in Leek. …Read more
One Bowl Meals are a great way of eating a variety of different foods including loads of vegetables. They’re also perfect for using up leftovers plus odds and ends of veg, helping you reduce food waste and save money. Take a look at my examples, …Read more
In this post, I share some of my food and drink from last month, bringing together a selection from the blog and my social media during March 2020. March was a strange month. It started off relatively normal, albeit with fears about just how bad …Read more
In this post I share some of my food and drink highlights from last month, bringing together the best of the blog and my social media during February 2020. Includes: some favourite ways to eat eggs, when a meat substitute’s not really a meat substitute, …Read more
In this post I share some of my food and drink highlights from last month, bringing together the best of the blog and my social media during January 2020. Includes American pancakes (twice!), a perfect pizza, Indian street food, tasty local beef in a country …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
In this post I share some of my food and drink highlights from last month, bringing together the best of the blog and my social media during December 2019. Includes a birthday meal with a MasterChef finalist, seasonal baking and Christmas in Wales. Love …Read more
If you enjoyed plenty of festive feasting recently but are looking to bring things back into balance, my Top 16 Lighter Recipes for January are just right for you. I’ve selected my favourite lighter recipes from the blog and brought them together in one post. …Read more
In this post I share some of my food and drink highlights from last month, bringing together the best of the blog and my social media during November 2019. Includes a controversial chilli, sustainable meat eating, tapas, South East Asian, Indian and Pakistani food and …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