Guest Appearance

Feeling festive yet? I had my first cream sherry of the season last week whilst watching Sleepless in Seattle and we’ve had Jamie Cullum’s new Christmas album on repeat (he was a guest on Saturday Kitchen a few weeks ago, the album’s a cracker). Then there was the festive fizz tasting with the wonderful Kat Farmer …

Telling Tales

Not entirely sure what day it is but with two out of three kids now back at (home) school, we’re back to some sort of routine. Namely, arguing about who’s hogging the kitchen table/using all the broadband/moved the charger. Such fun! Anyway, hoping you and yours are well and that you haven’t run out of …

Come From Away

I’ve been working away from home this week. Of course I miss the kids blah blah but there are serious upsides. Take yesterday. After work, I met a friend for a drink and a bite to eat at one of my favourite London restaurants, Barrafina (the new/old one on Dean Street in Soho). One of …

Order, Order!

So this is me, holding a copy of my new book – Teetotal Tipples – in my hand. Obviously, I have a glass of wine in the other. It’s now exactly a month until the book is out but you can pre-order it here! I wrote it because, having done a dry January earlier this year, I realised …

Comedy Camp

I have Camp Bestival news: I’m doing a wine tasting on the Saturday night with the wee-inducinginly funny, gold catsuit-rocking comedy duo The Scummy Mummies. And our host for the evening is DJ Sara Cox. I know! And, if you fancy doing another (smaller) pop-up tasting on the Friday, with just me and a load of lovely …

Search Party

Lots of you have been kind enough to tell me that you find the new wine search function on the website useful (‘THIS WILL CHANGE MY LIFE’, said one, brilliantly). Then, this morning, a friend showed me how she’s downloaded the Search Wine bit to her phone home screen, taking her straight to the wine reviews when she’s …

Dive In

I’m sure there’ll be a year when all the presents are wrapped and the food prepped ahead of time. Just not this one. But before we part company for a bit, here are some of the wines featured in a list I put together for The Pool, a brilliant website stuffed with great articles and the …

Big Picture

So, this is a really big picture of me. It’s in the latest Waitrose Kitchen magazine and is the first of my monthly wine course features. I’m sitting on my kitchen table (I don’t usually do that) with a glass of wine in my hand (that one more so). I have been dying to tell …

Hot Dates!

Well, hopefully nicely chilled for whites and room temperature for reds because we’re talking wine dates, and lots of them. I’m going to be out and about a bit this month and I wanted to let you know just in case you’re nearby and up for joining me for a glass of wine. This Friday …

Cake Pop

OK, this isn’t mine. It’s Nigella’s.  So, volunteering to make the school’s monthly birthday cake was a good idea at the time. But last night as I took the 5-egg cake out of the oven approaching midnight? Not so much. And this morning, as I iced the cake before school, Eldest Boy suggested that I …

My Sherry Amour

Glorious, under-rated and often misunderstood: that’s Sherry. Well, not all of it – there’s lots of sweetened stuff that tends to cast an unfashionable shadow over the rest – but the good stuff is really, really good. So when my friend Hannah asked for some Sherry recommendations I vowed to do a post on them. …