Earlier this month, Flea and I spent a few days in Florence, and we were lucky enough to attend some cooking classes where some rather lovely Italian chefs taught us how to make lots of yummy Italian food. We've been home long enough to try these recipes again and I am delighted to report we have managed NOT to poison anyone in the family. On that basis, we're now sharing with you a simple, Italian menu that can be prepared in just a couple of hours by kitchen-idiots like me. All recipes … [Read more...]

We Whittle women are well-known for our skills in the kitchen. Unfortunately, we're not known for those skills actually being any good. So you'll understand I was a little nervous when I found out that my client Booths had decided to pitch me against Chrissie at Mediocre Mum in a cookery competition as part of the weekly BoothsCheers Twitter party. For the non-Tweeters among my readers, every Wednesday Booths hosts a live Twitter chat about some wines and beers - and invites Twitter … [Read more...]

Flea and I are basically AMAZING bakers. Why, just look at this creation, fresh from our oven last week. What do you mean, “Is it cat sick?” How rude. That said, I did feel my parenting credentials were somewhat dented by our attempt at chocolate chip cookies (which is obviously what the photo above is of), so this weekend we set to and produced chocolate chip muffins instead. If you too would like to bake perfect chocolate chip muffins, here’s what you need: Sally and Flea's … [Read more...]

It’s fair to say that I’m not a domestic goddess. I burn dinner as often as I serve it successfully, and my lunchtime repertoire tends to extend as far as toast and, erm, more toast. The world of PR has, to be fair, made some sterling efforts to get me cooking over recent months. First up, Morphy Richards sent me a slow cooker, along with some cooking sauces from Schwartz. It was not a resounding success. The sauces were a bit too synthetic for my tastes and when you have a child who … [Read more...]

  Today saw the annual Whittle baking project, and so here is my one and only recipe post of 2011. This year, I think you’ll agree, we have surpassed our (admittedly dodgy) previous efforts. Behold, the miracle of Christmas Bauble Cookies. Step 1: Assemble the ingredients for the cookies: flour (150g), dark sugar (50g), caster sugar (50g), salt (pinch), egg (1), vanilla essence (a bit), butter (100g), chocolate chips (50g).  Step 2: Realise that you have kept the kitchen tradition … [Read more...]

"I'm totally not going to do that."  That's what I said to Jen at the Madhouse when she tagged me and asked me to make a video blog of my kitchen. Seriously? A blog about a kitchen?  But then I thought about it.  The truth is, I am a domestic GODDESS. My kitchen is like a shrine to good cooking and housewifely skills. I would be depriving you, friends, by not sharing with you the secrets of my kitchen.  So, here it is. A video blog of my … [Read more...]

If you’ve landed on this blog looking for cooking tips, then there are three things you need to know about me: I burn pasta at least once every week My child eats cereal in a cup for breakfast, in the car, on the way to school Every single time I boil an egg, without fail, I have to refer to Mrs Beeton So I’m always excited to be invited to events where there’s an outside chance I might become a less rubbish cook. This weekend, we were invited by Dairylea to go to The Cookery School in … [Read more...]