Boysenberry and Mascarpone Trifle

A trifle is an English dessert and in the 1970’s they were so ghastly they quickly went out of vogue.  But the humble trifle is making a comeback and it’s a lot more sophisticated.  Gone is the bought sponge chock full of preservatives, the custard out of a carton, the bilious green jelly, the tinned […]

Christmas Cake with Snowflakes

I didn’t start making my Christmas cakes until the beginning of December which is a little late but now that the fruit and nuts have soaked in brandy and citrus juice, the cakes have been baked and then finally iced and decorated, I feel I have caught up with the season. A few years ago […]

Cheat’s Bombe Alaska

Ever since we enjoyed Bombe Alaska on New Year’s Eve, it’s been on my mind how much I’d like to make one.  This is a theatrical dessert that was big in the 70’s when a dinner party wasn’t a dinner party unless you were setting your guests’ food on fire. But the dessert originated a […]

Mini Christmas Truffle Puddings

I’ve written about the little supermarket up the road a few times; most memorably was the time I was asked to present my Seniors Card almost two decades ahead of being eligible to receive one.  It’s where I do most of my shopping and for some reason, strangers don’t mind striking up a conversation. December […]

Frozen Chocolate Christmas Pudding

A few weeks ago an email went out amongst a group of my friends regarding our annual Christmas party.  It’s an event we’ve enjoyed for the past few years that’s always a Sunday lunch with around 12 adults, a handful of kids and everyone provides a dish. I put my hand up to bring a […]

Homemade Christmas Gifts

Don’t you just find that heartfelt gifts make the best presents. These are the gifts where the cost isn’t taken into consideration but rather the love and the time and the thoughtfulness is what excels in these gifts. As we are now just four weeks away from celebrating Christmas Day, I thought I’d re-post heartfelt […]

Gingerbread Loaf

When I was in high school I had a friend Mattie who never showed any signs of wanting to cook.  Since leaving school we haven’t seen a lot of each other as he moved away from Sydney however, we do keep in touch through facebook. A few weeks ago he posted a photo of a […]

Quick and Easy Rocky Road

This post is sponsored by Nestle Healthy Active Kids. Recently I found out that almost half of Australian children are not learning any cooking skills.  I thought about my own childhood and realised I had learnt to cook from a young age.  I was given a children’s cookbook at the age of seven and I […]

Triple Layer Pavlova

What to do when you have a freezer full of little zip-lock bags containing egg whites.  I don’t know why it is I have so many egg whites but I do. A few days ago we were invited to a friend’s house for some American hamburgers, (he’s from New York and he cooks a great […]

Medlar Jelly

Medlars!  I’d never heard of them. A good friend of mine lives on a property outside of Goulburn with a lot of medlar trees.  And the trees were laden with autumn fruit.  She posted a picture of the subsequent abundant harvest on facebook and how she was going to turn them into medlar jelly which […]