There's a little bookstore, tucked away on Lamb's Conduit Street in London. It's called Persephone Books, and all the book jackets are grey. But inside each cover, on the 'endpapers', is a colourful work of art. A surprise. Persephone Books publishes previously out of print titles, written...
Sara MacCulloch's palette is full of greens and yellows, with a touch of blue and shades of pink. Sara MacCulloch paints landscapes. I stopped in to visit her a few weeks ago on an unseasonably warm, late fall afternoon. She had just hung her clothes on the line. We had a...
My father loves trees. Now, in retirement, he and my mother have a home on a river, and are surrounded by them. But they are never just trees. They are tamaracks. They are fir and cedars. They are pines, spruce, black spruce and maple. They’re oak, elm and...
I lean over and notice a new scent on my arm - olive oil, extra virgin. It was supposed to be straight-up olive oil, which isn't so fragrant. But, extra virgin is all I had. I also catch a hint of frankincense in there, maybe almond oil, and some mint...
Back to Basics. That's what Luisa Brimble answered, without hesitation, when asked what the next trend in food would be. Luisa is an Australian food and lifestyle photographer. She was talking with Skye Manson on My Open Kitchen, an Australian podcast I've been devouring since I discovered it a...
My grandmother was a stunner. No wonder her fried green tomatoes were also gorgeous. I should have known...
Healthy, By Accident Juice! was the first cookbook I co-authored with my friend Pippa Cuthbert. I wrote about the process here - the rejection, the commission, and the bouncy hair and glowing skin that came from juicing. Neither of us were particularly healthy at the time; we liked to call...
My Dad Wrote a Porno is number one on the UK iTunes podcast comedy charts. Here are the hosts, reenacting something (how to use a riding crop perhaps?) in front of a sold-out live audience last week in London. The backstory of the podcast is this: A man retires from...
Remember the beginning of the 1973 animated version of Robin Hood? The one that begins with Rooster’s voice narrating the story as the pages of an old book slowly turn? Then, an illustration of Rooster cruising along strumming his mandolin suddenly begins to move. We dive...
The photo library on my phone tells me it's been a glorious pink summer. Pink sunsets. Pink Mornings. Pink covered plates previously covered in beet salad. Pink feta from sitting on pink beets. Raspberries. Watermelon juice. Radishes. Radish sprouts. Pink-bottomed peaches. Pink squid tentacles hot...
Overwhelming Love...
The Queen Has Hairy Legs. It’s true. If you run your fingers down the base of a stalk of Queen Anne’s Lace, you’ll feel the tiny hairs. They’re important because they differentiate the plant from Poisonous Hemlock, which looks much the same. The former is an...
Black bean brownies don't jump off the page. Instead they linger there, catching your eye, asking, 'I know I sound weird. But try me. I dare you.' I love to bake, especially anything soft, chewy and dark-chocolatey. But as you know, I'm practical. I use what...
Use what you have. That's the line I say on my cooking show, LOVE FOOD, all the time. My goal is too discourage excessive panic-fuelled shopping: Don't go out for Thai curry paste if you already have Indian. Don't buy a pairing knife is you already have a good...
Up above there's an image. Inside the image is my name - christian, maiden and married. Beneath the name is a tag line, FOOD STORIES, with a breakdown of what I do - food writer | stylist | broadcaster. Under the logo is a mug of pea soup,...