My diary
 

A DIFFERENT CHRISTMAS
Thursday 11 December 2008
Excuse the rushed short diary entry, but am off to India next week and the combination of Christmas preparations and bikini packing is taking longer than I’d planned. And Maya is bouncing off the walls with excitement so doesn’t want to go to sleep early and wakes thinking it’s nearly Christmas day most mornings!

It’s strange not to be making mince pies and planning my trips to La Fromagerie for the cheese fest purchase, but I envisage that I will come back from India so rested and inspired by all of the delicious food out there, that the writing of my new book will come easily in the New Year - that’s my hope anyway!

I wish you all the happiest of Christmases and may 2009 be kind to you.

INDIAN ADVENT
Tuesday 03 December 2007
Two school weeks to go and the excitement in our house mounts by the day - I can only imagine that by the time Christmas day comes Maya will be fizzing! I had the best birthday last week. Whilst I may be tempted (although actually I am happier now than I have ever been) to be slightly taken aback by clocking up another year, the fact that Maya is at the age where she loves to make a fuss of me and to make me feel special - from candles and streamers round the bed to sausages on sticks and Hoola Hoops as rings on my fingers - how can one ever be down about having another birthday?!

I’m starting to think about packing for India. Thankfully the atrocious terrorist activities are well away from where we’re going in a couple of weeks time. What a trip it will be. I’m determined this time to keep a diary of every day’s events so that Maya has a little book to add to the photo collection which she will create with a digital camera I’ve bought her. I suspect there will be a lot of knee and funny shots as she will have complete control over her camera but this will be her first photographic record of her trip to her home land.
14 days left to get work, Christmas activities and gifts organised AND pack so must dash!

STRICTLY SOUPS
Tuesday 27 November 2007
As the cold winds take down the temperature outside, all Maya and I want to do is hunker down in front of the log fire and watch episode after episode of Strictly Come Dancing -
for we are truly addicted! Maybe it’s having been brought up with Bruce Forsyth entertaining
us on the Generation Game of a Saturday night that brings back happy comforting thoughts -but I suspect it also due to my new found love - that is learning to ballroom dance. For me,
the combination of dancing, music and exercise can’t be beaten. So I find myself working out the food we eat around the 6.30 Take 2 and the Saturday and Sunday evening slots; somewhat like an addict, for the programs can’t be missed! Luckily it’s the time of year when soups, casseroles and roasted vegetables don’t feel a hardship and can be easily eaten on a tray with only a chunk of warm, crusty wholemeal bread to dunk into - what more could we want?

The reaction to a recent column in the Daily Mail where I talked about the nutritional benefits of eating left overs - bubble and squeak, bread pudding, chicken rissoles etc has been quite something. Which just shows how many people didn’t realise that actually having a soup made out of left over vegetables, blended with stock made from a bog standard stock cube, can actually have just as much fibre and other antioxidants like Beta carotene, and is therefore a really good thing to eat and it’s almost free. And the fact that soups and casseroles become far more delicious as the days after cooking pass by, only makes it even easier to justify putting your feet up and tucking into a simple bowl of something warming with little more effort than to heat it up. And when the root vegetables like parsnips and carrots are cheap and plentifull, there’s no better reason this weekend as the chilled winds drive snow and temperatures down, to get the large saucepan and soup recipes out.



NEW BEGINNINGS
Friday 14 November 2008
I’m relieved that at long last my new web site is up and running, it has been a while since
I've been able to post any news or diary pieces, which I found really frustrating as I’d got very used to letting you know what I was up to.

But no news has been good news as Maya and I have settled into our new country life like ducks to water.  We love it especially as this Autumn the trees have been incredibly colourful, so as soon as we’ve stepped out of the door we’ve entered a painting. What a way to start a day - although I have to say I’m finding the travelling to and from London is proving challenging and tiring but I suspect it’s a question of getting used to it and it’s a very small price to pay.

I’ve started writing my next book - due to come out at the end of next year.  It was good to get off the starting block with this as it always feels such an insurmountable task at the beginning, but I feel in the swing of it now. I’m going to be writing hard these next few weeks as Maya and I are off to India in December - our first trip back, which is going to be incredible in so many ways; not least to show Maya her gorgeous home-land. To spend Christmas day in Calcutta is something to well and truly look forward to, as is the prospect of some Indian sunshine as I sit and look out at today's grey, wet day.