Cats are singular creatures indeed. It’s all about them. I know some people like that – it’s not pretty. But for some reason I not only tolerate this quality in cats, I find it rather endearing. I understand that when my four-legged child stops being snooty and starts snuggling up to me in the wee hours, it’s only because it’s [...]
We may have had the hottest day on record for the last hundred years in Cape Town last week, but change is definitely in the air. The mornings now have a distinct chill, which has me reaching for my cardie. As the season turns, I’m starting to thinks stews, bakes and pies. Warming comfort food really doesn’t get any easier [...]
My gran – in the way of so many women of her generation I suppose – was a kitchen whizz on the quiet. Dress a 300kg carcass in under an hour? No problem. Whip up a four-tier wedding cake with marzipan and delicate OTT floral sugarwork by Monday? Sure sweetie. I wish I had learnt more from her while I [...]
See a woman amble aimlessly around a fashion store for hours on end and nobody bats an eyelid. Try doing the same thing in a supermarket, and security guards get downright twitchy. None of this picking up stuff, checking it out and putting it back. That’s OK for a dress, but apparently not for a bottle of pickles. But here’s [...]
I love, love, love pasta. Which is why I pretty much never order it in a restaurant. Because, honest to goodness, nine times out of ten they will muck it up. And then I just get annoyed (which isn't pretty) because making good pasta is not rocket science. Pasta cooked until it’s just al dente, a kiss of intensely-flavoured sauce… [...]
Old recipes, in case you didn’t get the memo, are the bomb. While I still haven’t really gotten my head around shrimp cocktail (iceberg lettuce and thousand island dressing may have scarred me for life), I am falling in love all over again with things like Beef Wellington, Crepes Suzettes and one of my all-time favourite retro nibbles, Caesar salad. [...]