Come on in to my kitchen ...
This is where you'll find the woman behind In My Kitchen With You ... usually with flour on her hands (and always somehow on her dress when she is wearing something black), something bubbling on the hob, a dog under her feet and and a cup of tea somewhere I've already forgotten about.
My husband calls this room my other office. He's probably right ... It's where I cook, experiment, make a ridiculous amount of washing up, listen to cookery programmes I've already watched a hundred times, dance around the kitchen, feed my family and, most importantly, gather people around the table ... And the odd cheeky glass of Prosecco may be drunken while deciding what on earth to make for dinner.
It's warm, slightly chaotic, deliberately unmatching and completely mine.
And I wouldn't change it.
So come on in
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I've Never Believed In Saving the Good Stuff For Later
A Little Bit of Me
So, how about we treat this section like a little Q&A session? More of a chat around the kitchen table, if you like. No rehearsed answers, no fancy job titles ... just a few questions and whatever happens to tumble out of my head.
So let's start with the most important question ...
1. Tea or Prosecco?
Absolutely, depends on the time of day and what time you get here!
2. What do you love most about cooking?
Watching someone take a bite of something I've made and seeing their face light up.
I love people gathering around the table, helping themselves, going back for more, asking what's in something or where an ingredient came from, and especially when someone asks me for the recipe.
There's something about knowing I've created a little moment where people feel at home. Quite often I'm not even concentrating on eating myself; I'm just watching everyone else, quietly taking it all in.
That's probably my favourite part of cooking.
3. So, what kind of food do you like to cook?
Honestly, I don't know ... I've never been very good at answering that question because my curiosity is usually already onto the next dish.
I'll make a stew one day, stuff courgette flowers the next, start wondering what I can do with an ingredient I've never used and then
suddenly find myself making something completely different. I think I like food that makes me curious.
4. Where did your love of cooking come from?
This is where I'm supposed to tell you that I grew up surrounded by wonderful cooks and it was all very inspirational ... Except I'm not sure that's actually true.
I did grow up around people who cooked. My Dad, my maternal Gran and my paternal Grandad all cooked. My Mum hated cooking but made brilliant cakes. My paternal Nan... well, let's just say the appearance of the Tupperware box containing packet-mix rock cakes was never met with great enthusiasm. Taking just one to be polite was never an option, you always We had to eat two. Not an easy task when I didn't even like them.
I think my real obsession started in my early twenties when I discovered the Good Food Channel. I'd see ingredients I'd never tasted or sometimes never even seen before and immediately want to track them down and try them.
I think curiosity came first, and cooking followed.
5. What's the best thing you've ever cooked?
Oh, that's an unfair question! I don't really have one.
I get excited by most things I cook. I'm probably more interested in what I'm going to make next than deciding which thing I've made is the best.
6. What's the worst thing that's happened in your kitchen?
The fish pie incident.
It wasn't even a bad fish pie. I'd spent all afternoon making it ... Then I dropped the entire thing on the floor taking it out of the oven.
There were tears ... I'm still not entirely over it.
7. What can you cook without really thinking about it?
Christmas dinner. Give me a Christmas dinner and somehow my brain just knows what needs to happen when.
Give me an omelette, however ...
8. What are you terrible at cooking?
Eggs. Especially omelettes. I know right?! ... I can make all sorts of things that involve multiple pans, obscure ingredients and questionable levels of optimism, but eggs in a pan and suddenly I've forgotten everything I've ever learned.
9, What's your favourite thing in your kitchen?
That's difficult because I'm very attached to kitchen things ... I have a favourite rubber spatula, a favourite knife and a Dutch whisk that I would be rather unhappy to lose.
And then there are my Portuguese soup spoons. They're cream ceramic spoons with little fish on them. I found them on Amazon, so I can't even say they have a romantic story involving a Portuguese fishing village ... I just thought they were lovely.
They're kept in a little glazed jug with other ceramic-handled spoons I've collected over the years. The fish always made me think of my eldest daughter, who has always been drawn to the sea.
10. What's your kitchen like?
Very much like me, I hope. It's warm, slightly boho and welcoming.
Definitely not a bright, pristine, magazine kitchen' but homely.
There's a long island running down the middle with mismatched stools — some metal, some soft leather, some wooden — and people naturally gravitate towards it.
There are plants everywhere because they absolutely love the light, even though their enthusiasm for the light means I always seem to need the kitchen lights on.
And I have a walk-in pantry, which I've wanted since I was little because my Gran had one. I remember the smell of pickles and preserves and all those rows of jars.
It's my space. My domain. And it's where I get to do the thing I love most: feed people.
11. What's your idea of the perfect kitchen?
One where you aren't frightened to eat the biscuit!! ... I once walked into an immaculate, high-end, magazine-worthy kitchen and was genuinely too frightened to eat the biscuit I'd been given with my tea in case I dropped a crumb.
That's not my idea of a kitchen. I want people to come in, sit down, eat, make crumbs, have another helping and feel completely at home.
12. What makes you happiest about cooking for people?
When everyone has stopped being polite, and really tuck in and help themselves. When someone is reaching across the table for something, someone else is going back for seconds and the conversation and laughter have taken over.
That's when I know I've done what I wanted to do ... I don't necessarily want people to admire the food. I want them to feel at home eating it.
13. What's the strangest thing you've ever cooked?
Oh dear.
Squirrel.
Before you judge me, there is a story.
We once had a Westie called Jake who spent his entire life being walked in a park specifically because he loved watching the squirrels. He never caught one, his little legs never stood a chance ,,, but it became his life long ambition,
When he became very old and we knew his time was coming to an end, I bought some squirrel so that, finally, he could say he'd caught one.
14. What's the most memorable thing you've ever eaten?
Many years ago, my husband and I went to The Gambia.
We'd been warned not to leave the complex, but on the first day I heard a booming Geordie laugh from a nearby balcony and immediately decided I wanted to know who it belonged to.
That led to friendships, adventures outside the resort, two retired merchant navy men, a man trying to establish a lifeguard service, two hotel workers who took it upon themselves to keep us safe at a local market...
And eventually a German woman's house and an incredible BBQ.
She made the most amazing garlic-coated chicken livers. I've never forgotten them.
And I think that's why food memories are so powerful for me. I don't just remember the food. I remember the people, the place, the story and how I felt when I ate it.
15. What's something you always have in your kitchen?
Something boiling on the hob.
Something in the oven.
Far too much washing up.
A half-eaten cake under a glass dome.
A completely disorganised pantry that somehow never contains the baking powder when I need it.
And probably a dog standing hopefully underneath me.
16. If you could only keep five things in your kitchen — five objects, not ingredients — what would you keep?
A kettle would probably be sensible. But if we're talking about the things I actually love using...
My favourite spatula.
My favourite knife.
My Dutch whisk.
My hand blender (which also has a whisk attachment too, so I'm counting it as one!)
And a Prosecco glass.
The last one may not technically qualify as kitchen equipment, but I'm standing by it.
17. What do you think food is really about?
People. That's probably the simplest answer.
I love food, ingredients and cooking, but what really excites me is what happens around the food ... People sitting together ... Talking ...
Laughing. Trying something they've never eaten before. Someone asking for the recipe ... Someone saying, “God, this is good.”
And knowing that for a little while, you've made people feel looked after.
18. And finally... what are you going to cook next?
I haven't got a clue. I never know where inspiration and curiosity will take me next and that's probably half the fun.