There hasn’t been a lot of recipes on my blog lately but that doesn’t mean I’ve been exiled from the kitchen. No, I’m still in the Hotly Spiced kitchen but bouncing from one event to the next. Recently my sister, Em, has been in Australia with her son who was born a few weeks before […]
The Beaches Market, Warriewood
February 22, 2014 By 28 Comments
Over the past few months I’ve had a number of friends mention to me how good The Beaches Market is at Warriewood. I thought it was time I discovered it for myself. The market is open every Friday from 8am until 1pm and is held in the grounds of Pittwater Rugby Park, sometimes known as […]
The Christmas Production
February 8, 2014 By 32 Comments
For 11 years I wrote and directed a Christmas Production that was performed by children and had a cast of over 100 in acting roles, dancing roles or singing in the choir. While you can’t go past the opportunity to tell the greatest story ever told, what I loved was seeing children being able to […]
The 2013 Top Five
January 2, 2014 By 46 Comments
WordPress has very kindly sent me a kind of ‘Year in Review’. It’s a summary of how things went down over at Hotly Spiced Headquarters during 2013. It let me know my five most popular posts. I’ve seen these lists before and every year the list never fails to surprise. I thought I’d share these […]
Happy New Year
January 1, 2014 By 41 Comments
Happy New Year to all my readers. After seeing in the New Year I’m moving a little more slowly today! Do you remember when I told you about the barman, the actress and the prostitute? Well that story started in a two-storey apartment in McMahons Point. The owners are friends of ours and after 30 […]
Two Decades with Santa
December 20, 2013 By 42 Comments
I’ve now been taking my children to see Santa for two decades. I never thought I’d spend 20 years lining up in lengthy queues with hyped-up children who couldn’t stand in line for five minutes let alone the two hours it’s often been. I thought I would share with you the interesting and varied and […]
Bells at Killcare Garden Tour
December 7, 2013 By 16 Comments
When we stayed at Bells at Killcare, head chef Cameron Cansdell asked us if we would like a tour of the gardens. I always love a ‘behind the scenes’ look and so we were quickly accepted the offer. I was actually surprised that Cameron would have the time to take us on a tour as […]
A Beautiful Wedding
November 25, 2013 By 46 Comments
Carl and I consider ourselves very fortunate to have kept in touch with a lot of our friends from school. One of them fell in love with a beautiful girl who’s become a very good friend and it doesn’t seem that long ago that we were celebrating their wedding. Donna and I were pregnant with […]
A Remembrance Day Baby
November 12, 2013 By 47 Comments
I bring you good news of great joy. My sister, Em gave birth today (which was November 11th in LA) to a beautiful baby boy. Every birth is a miracle but none more so when the mother is 47 years of age. Em’s gynae history hasn’t been plain sailing and her first child was born […]
Two Poor Little Girls
September 24, 2013 By 45 Comments
Over the last few weeks there has been an increasingly appalling wafting of halitosis coming from my sweet little Rosie. She has had trouble with her teeth in the past and late Friday night she was up on the couch with me and we reached ‘situation critical’. I could no longer abide her on the […]
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