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Ham and cheese croquettes
You know those times when you actually feel, despite everything, quite organised? When the house seems reasonably tidy - old sandwiches do not fall out of jigsaw boxes etc - babysitters have been...
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Chicken and dumplings
This looks horrible but honestly it was deliciousI have been asked to do a bit more on the feeding of small children and I do, as it happens, have some new things to say on this fabulously tricky...
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New-style summer slaw
I stole this pic off the internet. Sorry :(In our house we reserve our most arch and nasty sneers for writers who cite writer's block. We are pragmatists! If either of us displays any preciousness...
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Chicken Sesti
So there I was standing in a strange kitchen and a strange country all alone at 4pm (Italy time) facing about a 1/4 of a metric tonne (seriously! seriously!) okay it was about 1kg, but really like 1kg...
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Spiced lentils for Camilla
Almost my first feeling after I've invited someone round for dinner or sent a lot of party invitations out or basically instigated any social occasion is regret: the food I cook will be awful and...
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Plum and apple cobbler
When Kitty was a baby, during her toddlerhood and emerging girlhood I, and everyone else, marvelled at her independence, her fearlessness, her willingness to sleep in her own bed in her own room, her...
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Slutty cake pops
I've been made aware recently of a sector of my peers I never knew existed until a few weeks ago: couples who are trying, but failing, to have a baby.My family are hopeless in many ways, we can none of...
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Lahmacun
"Just hold your nerve for one more night," the doctor said to me. She heard me pause at the end of the phone, she knew I was on the edge, unable to speak."Is there anything else?" she said. "Is there...
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Offal burgers
Very soon my adventures in single parenting will be over. For this year at least. My husband returns on Wednesday and won't leave again until an unconfirmed date in 2015, by which point my new Spanish,...
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Overnight rye buns
Sam is a changed child. In three weeks he has gone from a deranged, clingy, screeching non-eating, non-sleeping lunatic devil toddler, to a perfectly alright 18 month old. He started walking properly,...
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Croque Monsieur fingers
I've been too happy to write anything recently. Before this, I was too miserable to write anything, now I'm too happy. My life is too much like an advert for ... something. Cashmere socks? Sometimes,...
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White fish with coconutty leeks
The most extraordinary thing has been happening to me over the last few weeks. I have been feeling, for the first time in my life I think, broody. I know! I know! The madness of the thing. I have spent...
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Best crunchy crackling and a Christmas pep-talk
My husband has discovered a way of cooking pork belly that produces the lightest fluffiest, crunchiest crackling ever. I think he stumbled upon this by accident, though he claims to have known about it...
View ArticleBoxing Day Buffet
A more onerous task than a Boxing Day Buffet I can't really imagine. But for many of you this year, it is a reality.How do you feed many people, of wildly different ages with basically zero prep time?...
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Gingerbread
Apologies for the unforgivably crappy piping here - I was listening to Serial at the same time and so was distracted Gingerbread is the most terrific stuff. It is easy to make, easy to handle and then...
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Christmas decorating
I often read a blog called "Cupcakes and Cashmere", which is written by a gloriously Californian control freak and tells you how to do your nails, how to "braid" your hair, how to make teeny tiny...
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Tuna melt muffins (for Claudia)
Doesn't look much here but STAGGERINGLY tastyI am always a bit shaken up by Christmas and New Year. It's something to do with the weight of expectation vs the result, which is worse times a million...
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Esther's takeout broccoli
You're supposed to be looking at the broccoli hereI once went to a talk by Irma Kurtz - where and why now escapes me - about getting old. She said that as you get older it's important to change your...
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Laotian fried pork
My photos will all be crap iPhone photos from now on because we were burgled and my camera was stolen. SAD FACEI fell to talking the other day to someone about Sam's sleeping. Specifically, about how...
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Profiteroles
I was in an absolutely foul mood the other weekend - pretty much all weekend. My husband would say "how could you tell?" because he thinks I am always in a foul mood, even if I am smiling, wearing a...
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