As a kid I utterly loathed beetroot. It took me a while to realize that it wasn’t beetroot’s fault, but the way it was prepared – grated and pickled to death. Fast forward a few (OK, quite a few!) decades and those bottles of grated beetroot still grace our supermarket shelves. And it’s still not my cup of tea. [...]
I was recently lucky enough to attend the launch of Earthling Food, the new vegan cookbook by Isabella Niehaus and Louis Jansen van Vuuren. Their previous plant-based book, There’s a Vegan on my Verandah, was utterly brilliant, so much so that it won them the Gourmand World Cookbook Awards in 2023. Their latest offering promises to do just as [...]
Summer in Cape Town is always about a month behind the rest of the country, but at long last it’s here and I can pop on a cheery summery frock. The way I eat is definitely very seasonally influenced. In warmer weather I want lighter, brighter, fresher food and salads are top of the list. When they are a [...]
Well folks, we’re almost through it – just another month and winter is officially over. It’s been an exceptionally wet and cold one in Cape Town. My response has been to hunker down and find comfort in warming dishes celebrating the best ingredients winter has to offer. Like this winter root vegetable bake – think potatoes, parsnips, carrots and [...]
Victoria sponge, or Victoria sandwich as it’s more traditionally known, is about as quintessentially English as it gets. Visit any English country fair and it will be there, adorned with rosettes from the WI for the best one. So I could not think of anything more appropriate to make for my Coronation tea tomorrow than a classic Victoria sponge. [...]
The heavens opened on Monday here in the Cape, our first rain for many months. It’s early for rain, but it’s a little nudge from nature to let me know that the first official month of autumn is only days away. The signs are all around – crisper mornings, earlier sunsets, the trees lining the streets starting to turn brilliant [...]