One of my “new years resolutions” is to bake fresh bread more often. I find it therapeutic and it actually helps me to collect my thoughts and just simply calm down and get back in touch with reality. The whole reasoning behind this is that you cannot fast track bread making, it takes as long as it takes, it’s slow with magnificent and very rewarding results. I try to apply this “method” to my life, slow things down, give it plenty of thought, a generous helping of good food and water, plenty of time, plenty of warmth and love and it’s remarkable that the end results are worth the effort and time.

I have chosen not to use a traditional loaf tin to bake my bread , instead I felt ready for a free form and shall we say a more organically shaped loaf of bread. I must admit it’s

I cannot believe that its the end of January, the year is off to a flying start. It’s already that time of the year to get romantic and treat the ones we love.

Celebrating Valentines day has become a bit of a cliche over the years, especially with the retailers who completely miss the point and try to milk as much cash as they can from February  14th. I’m actually very pleased that Mr.P does not jump on the band wagon and pay extortionate prices for flowers, he does show his appreciation in his own little ways and I love him for that.

Last week Mr.P brought me a lovely gift of some new season forced rhubarb wrapped in pretty pink tissue paper.

I was overwhelmed with this lovely gift so I felt the need to cook something that we both would enjoy. This heavenly scented rhubarb and vanilla jam

Cooking is my life but it does not necessarily mean that I have to reinvent the wheel every time I get the pots and pans out. As part of my daily routine at work I’m challenged most days to cook classic well known recipes and cook them really well rather than create new ground breaking recipes, concepts and ideas. However I may apply a twist and update the techniques and enhance the flavour profiles.

That is exactly what I have done with this age old dish of moussaka. I was brought up in a country with a healthy Greek community so moussaka was a well known dish on our dinner table. The interesting thing is that we never used to make our moussaka with potatoes. Recently I was challenged to make a moussaka at work and a lengthy debate ensued as to whether it contains potatoes or not.

Well after

I have always loved the combination of cauliflower and cheese. However I do have a rather sad memory of a cauliflower cheese incident. Dad was accustomed to having his food cooked in a simple way, he preferred plain boiled vegetables, boiled rice and over cooked meat, otherwise there would be “war at home”. Dad classed this combination as devils food, and one year when I visited it caused a rather unpleasant family feud. I insisted on making cauliflower cheese as mum loved it but dad did not eat his supper and well the rest is history.

I discovered the existence of Morbier about 10 years ago and always perceived it as being rather sophisticated and classy cheese. I still think so and continue to be in love with it as much as that very first discovery. I love the subtle but perfect blue line that runs through middle of this