About Me-What's New

About Me:

Hi, I'm Ella and welcome to my kitchen. I'm a home cook, someone that finds cooking relaxing and fun. I love creating meals that my family (husband and three kids) enjoy. I love variety, I love trying new things all the time. This site is about the food I serve my family and friends. This is what I cook. This is my food diary.

All my life I have sat down with my family (and friends) I love for an evening meal (whether it was my mum's table growing up or my table once I got married), This is the time we gather to share not only the food but the days happenings. We eat dinner talking away, then we sit for about an hour, sometimes more, and just keep talking about what's going on in our lives. These moments are priceless.

I have a lot of cookbooks and I love the ones with pictures (I like to know what a meal should look like, before I begin). So I will flick through a book until I find what I feel like eating. Then cook it. Sometimes it is just the idea I get from a cookbook, like when I make birthday cakes, sometimes it is an entire recipe. The first time I try a recipe, I follow it as it is, then if it is a success, the second time I will tweak it if I think it needs it, to suit me and my family.

Most things I cook are simple. I'm not into a lot of fuss. And as I have a ridiculously small kitchen for someone who loves to cook, plating up is not my thing, no space for it really, I'm more put it on a platter in the centre of the table and help yourself.

Edit: I had a tiny kitchen for 15 years, I have since moved from my tiny kitchen where I now have two kitchens, but how I serve my food hasn't changed. I still love putting food in the centre of the table and we all share a meal together. Plating up is just not for me.

This site has tried and tested recipes which I have cooked for my family and friends, some are easy, some are a little more difficult, but in the end all are delicious.

A quick important note: "My oven is a fan forced oven, so all recipes are based on that. If you use a conventional oven, cooking temperatures and times may need to be adjusted. But in all honesty, just get to know your oven, it is a trial and error thing when you first try recipes, just try."