A Valentine’s Day Table with Chocolate Raspberry Heart Cakes
Chocolate and roses are traditional Valentine’s Day fare. Combining them in a cake is the best of all possible worlds – served with tea, and augmented with pink champagne, of course! Add in pretty pink china and we have a lovely (albeit chilly) setting for...
In an English Garden
Soft pastel shades and fresh flowers are an instant cure for the winter doldrums. English Garden by Certified International was new for 2020. The trellis pattern on the soft green, scallop-edged dinner plate was an instant hit with me. I can see styling it a dozen...
Phyllo Tart with Chicken, Spinach, Feta and Pine Nuts
Spanakopita was a mainstay at neighbourhood get-togethers back in the day, and the offerings ran the gamut from soggy mess to succulently, crisply delicious. Elena’s were the gold standard to which we all aspired. One year, just before Christmas, Elena got a...
An Army of Feathered Combatants
You can’t beat antique French Faience for weird and whimsical tableware, and this colourful collection is one of my very favourites. At the head of this feathered army, we have Le Roi or The King. Rather haughty, isn’t he? These plates seem to have...
Cranberry, Pistachio & Orange Biscotti
Our virtual baking session just before Christmas produced more than Orange Chocolate Cake. My friend Leanne had assured me her recipe for biscotti was quick and easy, and she was right. We whipped it up in no time. Biscotti means “twice-baked” in...
A Touch of Woodland Sparkle to Finish the Year
Let’s send 2020 on its way with a whimsical table setting, with plates featuring handpainted watercolours of woodland animals set with humble pine cones and some glitzy gold. Designed by artist and founder Hannah Dale of Wrendale Designs, they are described...
Chicken Pot Pie
Claridge’s Hotel has been providing luxury accommodation in the heart of Mayfair since the 1850s; Martyn Nail, the executive chef of Claridge’s, has been overseeing the kitchens for more than 30 years. There is something very comforting about the...
Woodland Berry by Williams Sonoma
Winter greenery, in the form of holly, pine, juniper and winter berries, feature heavily on Woodland Berry plates by Williams Sonoma, The dinner plate has lots of clean white space in the centre, forming a perfect backdrop for a delicious feast. The salad plate is...
A Festive Chocolate Orange Cake
This cake is the result of a happy collision of ideas. First, the plates (as so often happens around here). They’re Woodland Berry by Williams Sonoma – a combined gift from daughter Lauren and daughter-in-law Annie for Christmas last year. I’ve been...
Winter Vegetable Chili
The weeks leading up to Christmas are fraught with opportunities for overindulgence. This vegetable-packed chili is a healthful antidote to a surfeit of sweets. Our family loves it, even the die-hard meat eaters and small children. It’s warmly spiced, without...
To Grandma’s Gingerbread House We Go
Nostalgic and colourful, these sturdy ironstone salad plates inspired a delightful few days of baking. I toyed with the idea of making a gingerbread house and even went so far as to bake a gingerbread bundt cake. Nice, but somehow lacked panache. The houses make you...
Gingerbread Village Spice Cake
When I was little, a crisp, spicy gingerbread cookie adorned with crunchy icing was the tantalizing reward to encourage exemplary behaviour while Christmas shopping with my Mum. Trailing around after her, scarf dragging and winter boots clumping, my thoughts would run...
Free Author-Signed Bookplate for Entertablement – The Four Seasons
Three weeks to Christmas and Santa’s elves are busy, including the ever-creative Mary Plumstead, my partner-in-crime at Entertablement. Mary has been whipping up a bookplate for the hardcover version of Entertablement – The Four Seasons. Doesn’t it...
The Answer is Tea
Have a cuppa? It’s the British cure for whatever ails you and seems particularly apropos in this hustle-bustle week. Whether navigating Thanksgiving preparations, Christmas arrangements, Zooming or Google meeting, it seems everyone is a bit … ahem, testy....Follow Us
