A few months ago, when I was planting out seedlings in The Secret Garden, we met our neighbours for the first time. Or rather they met us. Zippy and Roo were attempting to scale the crumbling wall between our two gardens, in pursuit of their ballsy cat, Henry, who never tires of teasing the children […]
Tonight is the Erev of Rosh HaShana, which, translated from the Hebrew, means ‘New Years Eve’. Unlike the organised ‘People of the Book’, those that inhabit The Mother-in-Law’s house are entangled in the annual maelstrom of preparing for a festival: last minute baking, shopping, cleaning, gardening, and inviting of the renegade West Country Jews. The […]
As summer draws to a close and the fruits of our springtime labours are pouring out of the Secret Garden in abundance, the earth below continues to provide. (In this first year, we’ve grown beetroot, corn on the cob, carrots – OK, maybe just the one carrot – cucumbers, potatoes, tender stem broccoli, a variety […]
When I recently returned from Mallorca – with the irrepressible desire to recreate Catalan bread and the unforgettable image of ‘Banana Hammock’ etched on my noggin – I desperately needed to find a ripe bull’s heart or beef tomato. My expedition was close to being fruitless (ha!) until I had the smart idea to gatecrash […]
When I was sixteen, I was involved in a Spanish exchange through my school. Sadly, my exchange partner so hated living with my dysfunctional complex family that she only stayed for a night, before moving in with her twin sister and exchange partner down the road. A new partner was found for me in the […]
