Recipe: Hot smoked salmon in my Big Easy barbecue

Okay summer still hasn't really arrived in London - sometimes it never really does - but I am certainly not going to let that prevent me from getting out into my garden and lighting the barbecue. Especially now that I have my brand new Char-Broil Big...

Recipe: Asian-style chicken with noodles and a crunchy salad

I love Asian flavours and experiment a lot with different marinades. This one seems to have a lot of ingredients in it, but I have to say it's one of the nicest I've come up with. The chicken was bursting with flavour and the sesame seeds made the perfect...

Recipe: Slow roast leg of lamb

I love cooking this leg of lamb when I have people around for dinner. It needs to simmer slowly in the oven for several hours, so all the preparation's done well ahead of time and the aromas of wine, herbs and lamb float enticingly through the house!...

Delicious Italian at A Tavola

How I love restaurants that always deliver. We've visited A Tavola so many times and always enjoy their fabulous, home-style Italian cooking. The menu offers classics like carpaccio, caprese salad, home-made pasta with a good range of sauces and veal...

The Amoy Blogger Challenge: Barbecue recipes

I love a challenge, so when the people from Amoy asked me if I wanted to take part in their next Blogger Challenge, I couldn't say no. As it turns out, the challenge involved barbecuing and Asian flavours - two of my favourite things. Throw in a...

The Cook with Biltong Club: an exciting new creation

It's always fun and a challenge to come up with new recipes. Thinking laterally about different ingredient mixes, ways of cooking and letting your imagination go. This was the most fun I've had cooking in a long time (and I always have fun!)....

Watch This Blogger Make 3 Badass Low-Budget No-Bake Desserts

Watch This Blogger Make 3 Badass Low-Budget No-Bake Desserts

Watch This Blogger Make 3 Badass Low-Budget No-Bake Desserts

Watch This Blogger Make 3 Badass Low-Budget No-Bake Desserts

A Pinch of Salt

I was thinking to myself the other day just how amazing salt is. We take it for granted and even use it to grit icy roads, but it has to be the only true essential ingredient found in every kitchen on the planet. A flavour enhancer par excellence it...

Food and flowers at beautiful Vergelegen

Today we're heading to Somerset West and the somewhat unpronounceable Vergelegen . It means "situated far away". The land was granted to the Governor of the Cape, Willem Adriaan van der Stel in 1700. Since then it's developed into beautiful gardens that...

What wine should I cook with?

Someone asked me this the other day. We cook with both red and white wine and although they are very different beasts, we can use the same rule of thumb. Firstly there is a saying ' don't cook with wine you wouldn't drink ', and although true as you...

Great foodie shopping at Cape Town's Oranjezicht Market

Today we're heading to beautiful Granger Bay close to Cape Town's Waterfront. How I love a food market and the Oranjezicht farmers market is absolutely fabulous. It's a community farmers-style market for independent local farmers and artisanal food producers...

Greenies (Matcha Blondies)

Not blondies, not brownies but GREENIES! I love love love matcha and I have a bunch right now so I've been trying to come up with some healthy-ish desserts to use it. I found a recipe for some super healthy matcha blondies but they had all these ingredients...

Beet and Herbed Goat's Cheese Terrine

My cousin brought a Hemsley & Hemsley cookbook over to my grandparents for me to look at and I was very excited by a lot of the recipes and gorgeous photos but this one really jumped out. It's so striking and also all ingredients that I love. We...

Beaches! Beaches! Beaches!

         Wind in my hair, sand under my feet, eyes facing the beach and a relaxed mind, tells my story! There is no better place in the world to calm yourself down than the beaches!    I would like to tell you all about...

New Year and A Fresh Start

"Looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God." (Hebrews 12:1-2). Welcome to the new year! By this time...

Are you counting it all joy?

By Shirley Weber Special to Inside The Pew Are you counting it all joy? This is a question when asked and you are not going through a trial you will say "yes, I am blessed and highly favored." When a difficult situation arrives, this would be a hard...

Recipe: Vietnamese-style grilled chicken thighs

So I'm getting very excited as I'm going to be heading off to Vietnam soon. A country I've never been to and have been longing to visit for a while. I don't quite know what to expect but I do know the food is going to be fabulous. So, inspired by my...

The many wonders of Catalunya's Cistercian Route

I was going to call this Spanish story "Eating my way along the Cistercian Route" but decided that sounded rather greedy and most importantly it's far from the whole truth. Yes, there was a lot of eating going on and very good eating it...

The Barbary: It's simply stupendous

Today I'm back in Covent Garden - in the delightful surrounds of Neal's Yard. It's a really cute, characterful area that is home to sister restaurant to The Palomar which I visited recently. The Barbary takes its inspiration from the Barbary Coast -...

Empanada – The Spanish for Pasty

As you know I have been living in Spain for the last couple of years and one thing I realised I was missing was the fish empanada ( Empanada de Atún ), a flavoursome pasty like creation available at every good bakery. It's a lunchtime favourite...

Loving the island life: hiking on the Isle of Wight

Today's journey involves a train and a boat. My two favourite forms of transport so that's a great  start. We're heading to the Isle of Wight, the largest island in England which is set in the English Channel four miles off the Hampshire coast....

The taste of Venice in chic St James

Today we're eating in London's West End in swanky St James. The area was developed in the 17th century as a residential location for the British aristocracy. Now it's home to fine clothing stores, chic art galleries, gentlemen's clubs and beautiful terraces....

Healthy Chipotle Dip

We opened this jar of chipotle chilis in adobo sauce and they were way spicier than we were expecting. We used one in a puree for our tamales but needed a way to use up the rest of the can so we created this yogurt sauce to tone it down but still get...

Pulled Pork Tacos

We found some pork ribs in the freezer on a cold morning last week and decided to "slow-cooker" them, as one of my mom's friends says, all day. We kept them moist with beer and they turned out beautiful. The meat fell right off the bone and it totally...

Overnight Oats w/ Rosemary and Vanilla

I like to make a big batch of overnight oats to have through the week for fast and easy post-yoga breakfasts. For this one I used vanilla and rosemary to flavor it. I love rosemary in almost anything, most people think of it as a seasoning reserved for...

Don't Let Christmas Ruin Your Diet: 10 Food Swaps

We all know that feeling after Christmas dinner. Stuffed? Yep, just like that turkey we've eaten. No wonder that we tend to gain up to two pounds in three days by over-indulging during Christmas!* If you are planning on wearing that LBD...

Recipe: Festive cranberry and white chocolate cookies

The festive season gives me an excuse to do more baking. It's not something I've done that much of in my life so it's taken me a while to realise how amazingly satisfying it is. You mix a load of dry stuff, add wet stuff to make it stick together,...

Creamy Goat Cheese Mushroom Sauce over Spaghetti Squash

I was always kind of wary of the whole spaghetti squash as a replacement for pasta thing but once you get over the fact that it's not going to taste like pasta you start to appreciate how much lighter a vehicle it is. Another little trick that I've grown...

A fabulous lunch in the Winelands at Clos Malverne

There are few better ways to spend a Saturday than dining in the Cape Winelands (well, for me anyway). Long, lazy afternoons with beautiful sunny views and amazing food and wine. Like at Clos Malvern which is set deep in the Devon Valley near Stellenbosch....