My sister, Lou, is now living in Oz after 10 years in Beijing. Two of her children have birthdays within a couple of days of each other. For the past decade I have only seen my niece and nephew’s combined birthday parties through a screen but now, everything’s changed. We were invited to a barbecue […]
Stuffed Pork Loin
March 20, 2015 By 22 Comments
It’s been a big week for the little guy who has so many interests and activities that result in a very tightly-packed schedule. One of the things he was most looking forward to this week was his appointment with the orthodontist. Because for the last 12 months Alfie has had to wear a contraption on […]
How to Make Your Own Bacon
October 20, 2014 By 36 Comments
It’s Day 9 of our 10-Day Tour and we’re still in Sydney. A few suburbs away from Tania (where we were yesterday) is Lorraine, Australia’s Uber-Blogger from Not Quite Nigella. When I first started blogging I was a little bit lonely because I didn’t yet have any cyber-friends and the only person commenting on (and reading) my […]
Caramel Pork with Green Apple Salad and…Geriatric Care
April 7, 2014 By 49 Comments
Last week I phoned my vet to ask if he could see my two girls, Ruby and Rosie. He asked what their presenting issues were and I said, ‘Geriatric care’. My girls are in their twilight years and becoming more precious by the day. Today was their day of reckoning so off we went in […]
A Family Lunch
March 10, 2014 By 51 Comments
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 […]
Spiced Apple Sauce
November 8, 2013 By 37 Comments
Peddling back to when I made the rolled loin of pork for the lunch we enjoyed with friends last Sunday, I also made apple sauce. I’m sure you would agree that if you’re going to crunch on crackling, it can only be all the better for dipping it into apple sauce. However, I have an […]
Stuffed Pork Loin with Primavera Salad
November 4, 2013 By 34 Comments
Yesterday we had close friends coming over for lunch. We normally catch up quite regularly but this year has been more frantic than usual and these friends have also done some traveling so it’s been almost 12 months since we last enjoyed each other’s company. Sunday was a beautiful warm day and just perfect for […]
Pork Satay Skewers with Peanut Sauce
October 30, 2013 By 32 Comments
Earlier this week I posted about my family’s birthday get-together. I mentioned I had made pork satay skewers with a peanut dipping sauce and showed an image I had taken on my i-phone of the cooked satays. From the wonderful comments it became clear that quite a few of you were interested in the satays […]
Thai Red Curry Pork with Pineapple and Ginger
October 29, 2013 By 34 Comments
Thank you all for your concern for Arabella. She has bounced back – bounced right back into the arms of her boyfriend, the one who was the ex-boyfriend for around 16 hours. Yes, it appears ‘the break-up’ was just a slight hiccup on the romantic path to happiness. When I made the pork satay skewers […]
Egg Baskets and…The Sleepover
June 21, 2013 By 31 Comments
Way back when Arabella was at pre-school she had one special friend, Olivia. Arabella was tall, thin and all stick arms and legs and by obvious contrast, Olivia was well-rounded. But that’s if you put it politely because actually, she was obese. But Arabella and Olivia seemed oblivious to each others differences and they certainly […]
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