Easter: rabbit, eggs, basket, bonnet, chocolate, chickadees and for me woolly sheep and lambs. I don’t want to offend anyone but I am not religious and therefore my associations are not religiouseither. However I do appreciate religious music and “All we like sheep” pops into my head when I think of Easter. Having sung Handel’s ...

Michele Cranston is the heart, soul and creative mind behind the popular marie claire cookbooks of the past 10 years that all center around “real and simple” food. Just in time for Valentine’s Day, 14th February 2013, Ms. Cranston’s 10th marie claire book will be available from Murdoch Books – it is titled: marie claire 10 ...

Is breaking your traditions a good thing or a bad? Does it show adaptation and a willingness to embrace change or do we miss it like a part of us that has been broken off? For most of the last 10 years on New Years Eve my husband and I have reveled in our hotel ...

I have wanted to make an entremet composé for so long – but I was chicken. I am not a good baker – not for lack of enthusiasm it just doesn’t come naturally to me like cooking does. But this year I decided I needed a Christmas dinner highlight – elegant, pretty and of course delicious! ...

We arrived in proud, exuberant and history-filled Siena in the dark and the pouring rain! But nothing could stop the allure of the city and its legends pulling us out into its lanes and piazzas. It called to us, beckoned with its mystery and atmosphere, and we followed. We wound through the glistening cobblestone lanes and ...

The Salone del Gusto taking place yearly in Turin is a highlight for every gourmet, gourmand and all those who simply love good food and good drink. But it is not just about schlemming it is most importantly the platform founded by Slow Food in 1996 to better present their visions, philosophy and missions to ...

Alright, alright I am eating my hat! Why you say? Because I really enjoyed London this time! Usually I am gripping about the expense for never getting to see anything while I am at the conference. But this year I stole away for an afternoon to see the London everyone raves about for myself. And guess ...

Away again?? Yes I know I just returned from Girona and the Costa Brava in Spain, were my husband Ludger and I launched our new travel blog www.personaltravel.biz . This new blog aims to combine travel ideas for above and below water. A way to share our travels adventures past, present and future and to suggest ways ...

  I hear you say: The way you like to cook is often….. what?? Here are a few explanations: ex·tem·po·ra·ne·ous Pronunciation: ()ek-stem-p-r-n-s Function: adjective Made up or done on the spur of the moment see also: impromptu - ex·tem·po·ra·ne·ous·ly adverb - ex·tem·po·ra·ne·ous·ness noun a (1) : composed, performed, or uttered on the spur of the moment : impromptu ...

I feel a particular affinity to Julia Child. I believe it has grown out of several roots: being French and American, having learned all about French Food at my Grandmaman’s knee both in my childhood summers and twice living with her outside of Paris for a year in the 1960’s, loving to cook and discover ...