Few things say small win quite like a really great glass of wine. I mean, kids returning towels to the bathroom rather than leaving them on their bedroom floor is right up there but you know what I mean. Anyway, what makes a glass of wine even greater is when it just so happens to …
There are daffodils in the garden and we even had a brief spell of sunshine for about three minutes a few weeks ago so, obviously, it’s time to talk rosé. Even if you do have to wear a poncho in the garden when you drink it. Now, Bandol is a sub-region in Provence and the …
How are you? I know, me too. But the end of January is in sight and publication day for my debut novel This Changes Everything is just two weeks away! So, a little more about it. The story revolves around Julia, her two grown up daughters Annie and Jess and what happens when Julia receives …
One of the guests on Saturday Kitchen at the weekend was Caitlin Moran, talking about her new book More Than A Woman. I devoured it last week whilst mainlining tea and a Terry’s chocolate orange. And I laughed out loud. A lot. (Slightly hazardous after three kids but whatever). Basically, it’s a guide to growing …
If there was ever a time to find the joy in small things, it’s now. And I got to talk about a whole range of small things on This Morning earlier this week, namely drinks in cans including spritzers, properly smart wines and a Bloody Mary so good even Holly Willoughby liked it. She also …
Ten years ago to the day I decided to write a wine blog. I remember hitting publish on that first post, just a few sentences on how I planned to recommend a couple of wines each week in the hope it might help anyone looking for a little wine inspiration. With three kids under five …
Yesterday I spent the day at the London Wine Fair and was, basically, like a kid in a sweet shop. And a really greedy (thirsty?) one at that. It was at Olympia and the room was packed with winemakers and their wines. For years I went to the fair as a supermarket wine buyer and …
I’ve spent much of this week trying to keep kids off screens despite the rain/without spending a small fortune doing so. Hitting deadlines has meant getting up early and working late. But no school run, eating pancakes at 11am and watching films on Netflix in the middle of the afternoon has more than made up …
So, as I write this, everywhere is blanketed in the white stuff. But like a foot sticking out from the edge of the duvet, where we live (in the New Forest) is cold but uncovered. And I’ve got serious snow envy because unless we get some, it means we’ve got to do World Book Day …
They say the best things in life are free. Not altogether true (wine! luxury skincare!) but you get the gist. Anyway, last week I posted a picture on Instagram of these brightly coloured gin-filled baubles. Designed to hang on your Christmas tree and filled with Pickering’s Gin, they are, quite simply, gin-ius. Sadly, they’re not free (a …
Sometimes my life seems like one long list of stuff to do. So for the next 10 days, I’m going to live by a To Don’t list. Here’s what’s on it. Don’t think 11am is too early for a glass of rosé. Don’t buy that pair of white cotton trousers in the French market for …
I was in Shoreditch last night. Drank cold brew coffee in a café and watched grown people skateboard past on the street. Felt old, in a good way. Anyway, I was there to speak at an event along with Edd Kimber from GBBO fame and Poppy Loves, a London lifestyle blogger, about the role of influencers. …
I realise it’s a bit like complaining that my diamond shoes are too tight but I got hit by a crazy skier last week whilst on the slopes in Austria and now I’m on crutches with a ruptured cruise ship (I’m told it’s cruciate but I prefer cruise ship) ligament. Which, given that I’ve got …
I’ve been dying to tell you about this: I’m writing another book. And this time, we’re back on the booze. Out next year, it’s all about how to make really good cocktails at home. So if you have any favourite cocktail recipes you’d like to share, I’d love to know about them! Email, leave a comment here or on Instagram or Facebook, whatever …
As ever, late to the party – our half term is this week. On the up side, mornings aren’t quite so early/shouty. On the down side, trampoline parks. We went to one yesterday afternoon and the kids flipped for an hour whilst I hid in a corner with my laptop, trying to hit a deadline. Honestly, you …
So that’s January almost over and done with. Thank goodness; it’s been exhausting. But I have JUST the thing for anyone in need of a little r&r. Lime Wood, in the New Forest, is one of the most gorgeous hotels I know and their Herb House Spa is positively d-r-e-a-m-y. There’s a spa day for two up for grabs …
Last night, having just finished setting up for a KMWC wine tasting, a robin appeared and perched on the edge of the ice bucket. Look at the picture above! Could not have been more Christmassy. Anyway, having spent much of last week talking about not drinking on various radio shows to coincide with the launch of …
Remember when I did a dry January? I do, all too clearly. Anyway, the thing I found tough was not the not drinking so much as finding something non-alcoholic and interesting to drink in the evenings. Given that we’re spoilt for choice when it comes to choosing a glass of wine, it’s surprisingly difficult to …
Maybe it’s the back to school feeling in the air. More likely it’s the fact that I’ve got deadlines. Whatever: I can’t stop clearing out cupboards. It all started with the coat cupboard, where I found not one but two old puffa jackets I’d forgotten about. A boon because apparently they’re the only thing we …
Well, here we are. Six weeks of summer holidays. Six. Whole. Weeks. I mean, there’s lots to love. No school runs, no last minute hunts for clean school uniform and no reading book guilt. This is all good. Not so good: the permanent canteen/washing/taxi service needed to keep things ticking over. But I have a plan …
I’m sitting here with wine on my face. Better than egg, you might think. But that’s on there too, along with some honey. My feet are submerged in vodka, my nails are soaked in gin and I’m about to pour beer on my head. With good reason: I’m testing out some booze-based beauty tricks for …
I’ve been tasting a lot of wine this week, about 100 a day, at the International Wine Challenge in London. Yesterday, an old friend and fellow wine judge reminded me of the time we tasted a flight (the fancy name for a line up of wines) of Cabernet Sauvignons from Chile together, almost twenty years ago, …
So, Half Term. I’ve loved not having to wake up to an alarm when it’s still dark outside. Eating breakfast in our pyjamas (which may or may not have been chocolate brownies one particular morning – please don’t look at me like that) has been a joy. We’ve caught up with old mates, walked the dogs, played football (actually I …
Last week, I was given a couple of pheasants. We’re surrounded by them at the moment: every morning on the school run they saunter across the road looking so very now with their glorious autumnal colours, their white neck collars giving them a faintly religious air. I wasn’t sure how to cook the ones I was …
So, this time last week I’d just filed a story for the paper. It was a bit of a deviation for me because it wasn’t about wine. Rather, it was about how I met my husband. And though I realised a fair few people would read it, nothing prepared me for the response to the piece. …
Laughter is the best medicine, or so they say. Clearly they forgot wine, carbs and Codeine but I know what they were getting at. Anyway, one of the biggest successes of the Easter holidays so far has been the comedy workshop that Middle Boy went to last week. Run by my old friend Laura, she’s …
This week, I’ve been mostly fuelled by tea and chocolate brownies. One day I will have a tin of ready-made healthy snacks to tuck into. That, and a pre-made tiffin box of quinoa salad on hand for lunch on-the-go. Just not this week. But today, with deadlines met, I dropped in to see my mum …
Every year, on or around the 25th January, we do Burns Night. I’m married to a sort-of-Scot (my father-in-law was born and brought up in Edinburgh; the Husband’s more of a Hampshire Highlander) so Burns is big in his family. One year, my sister-in-law and I took on the cooking with the help of Pippa …
I do love a nativity play. I was once Angel Gabriel to my husband’s Joseph. We were five years old at the time and I remember thinking that, even if I wasn’t Mary, at least I had a speaking part. Tomorrow, it’s our children’s turn. Apparently there’s a cowboy theme (me neither) and Middle Boy’s …
Pre-wine tasting egg & baconbreakfast (not incl. wine) I’ve spent the last couple of days at The Oval, but I’m not there for the cricket. (I once asked Andrew Strauss if he was following The Ashes, not realising he was the England captain at the time but that’s another story). As ever, I’m there for …
I was at the Borders Book Festival this weekend. And it was brilliant fun. Here’s my selfie at the start of the session (rude not to). And not only was the crowd simply lovely, I got to meet up with my blogging mate Harriet and drink wine in the Green Room with her whilst Emma Thompson’s mother discussed …
I like to think I keep up with the trends OH MY GOD I SOUND LIKE MY MOTHER. Anyway, as I was saying, I read the fashion pages in the paper, follow a few blogs, feel like I have a rough idea of what’s hot and what’s not (as they say). So when I decided …
In the song, it’s a dirty story of a dirty man. And it took him years to write. Mine took six months of Saturdays and it’s all about wine. Much more useful, IMHO. Described as ‘useful, interesting and very funny’ by Victoria Moore (I especially like funny). And India Knight said it doesn’t just simplify …
So, here are the things I’ve learned in the last month since being on the telly once a week: 1. The camera doesn’t add 10lbs. It add loads more than that. 2. As much as I love having my hair and make up done by a professional make up artist, I am mostly sitting there …
OK, it mostly is but bear with until the end of the post and if you’re in London over the bank holiday weekend, there’s a chance to grab some tickets for a big wine thing. So, me first. I has news. Firstly, hampers-and-loose-leaf-tea emporium Fortnum & Mason, on London’s Piccadilly, has announced the shortlist for …
I realise that for Red Nose Day I could a) shave all my hair off or b) do a sponsored bike ride or even c) climb a mountain but there are already people I know doing exactly that. So instead, I’ve sponsored them and can now stay at home with a glass of wine knowing …
It started with a tweet. Comic Relief were in the planning stages of how to mark this year’s 25th anniversary of Red Nose Day. A blogger I know tweeted back and said: ‘how can we help?’. Fast forward to Sunday and T, Penny and Annie found themselves on a plane to Accra, Ghana on a trip …
So, I did have a lovely evening last night, with these two on the right and about 200 others. We were speaking at the latest Red Network event about being your own boss. Clare, on the left, founded Howies and now runs Hiut, an incredible denim company based in Wales. Kathryn, on the right in …
Apparently, it is still January. Remember that wonderful wedding I mentioned a few weeks ago? Feels like it was months ago. But, I have developed a coping strategy to get me through and it seems to be working. It goes like this: 1. Make risotto. Spend half an hour at the stove one evening, glass of …
No, this is not about Bond. But it is about secrets and at the moment I’ve got – count them – three. That’s three things that people have told me and then said I’m not to tell anyone (yet). And they are all really good secrets, which makes it even harder, because when I’ve got …
Some of you might remember the last time we went to a ‘do’, with an auction, we returned home with a painting. Two years on and it is still sitting in our garage. And so it was that on Saturday night we headed off to our boys’ school bi-annual fundraising Ball, with no intention of …
A normal Tuesday night for me goes something like this: have a bath, go out, meet a friend for supper in a local gastropub, share a bottle of wine, get back after 11pm…oh, sorry. No, forgive me, that’s my old life. Tonight has been about getting three children to bed (easier herding goats, although I’ve …
Next week, after 16 years of continuous employment (bar three maternity leaves), I am going freelance. It is either going to be the best thing I ever did, or a really, really silly thing to do. Let’s see, shall we? With huge thanks and a bear hug to Hugh MacLeod. Current white in the fridge: Porcupine …
Book Club last night. We ate curry, drank wine and talked about, amongst other things, the following: magnificent bosoms (not ours) poorly children (ours) euthanasia (generally) the Mitford sisters Caitlin Moran’s new book (affectionately known by Bearded Husband as ‘that feminist shit’) newborn babies (we had a 3-week old in attendance last night) Marley & …
Heroines, I’ve had a few: Nightingale (Florence & Annie), Nigella and any number of Jilly Cooper characters included (the ones who weren’t obviously pretty but then became ravishing once drenched in Diorissimo and tight on thunderous G&Ts). Another heroine is Jancis Robinson MW (Master of Wine), a walking wine authority. Jancis started Wine Relief in 1999 and has helped raise nearly …
Here in the cyber-playground, I’ve been tagged by the Merlot-swilling loving Eh, Mummy? and asked to write about my Perfect Man. Actually, she says I’m allowed to write about my perfect wine, which is a great relief because I couldn’t top her description in which she references John Holmes, dirty cow. My perfect wine has been, at various times, …
India Allsopp (or was it Kirstie Knight?) recently wrote about putting one’s relationship with husband/partner first, followed by that with the children: the couple are the cornerstone and unless that relationship comes first, the edifice will crumble. In short, adult time is essential to keep everything together. For me, the idea of eating tea with my 1, 2 and 6yo is not …
There has been a lot of talk about wine talk recently. Among wine writers, that is. From what I can gather, they are arguing that one wine drinker’s blackberries are another wine drinker’s raspberries. Should we really be so aroma and flavour-descriptive when tasting wine is so subjective? Well, when I’m buying something that I haven’t tried before …
Following two weeks away on holiday (we did a Bromsgroves, Mrs T), I feel somewhat restored by my break from the norm. A bit of sun – tans fade, wrinkles don’t blah blah – and a couple of snatched half-hours with my book and I’m happy. Determined to not fall back to pre-holiday ways including 1) talking to my children …
Picture the scene: drinks reception for work, unfamiliar surroundings, friend introduces you to another friend. You greet them with great familiarity, you know you’ve met them before. Conversation starts. Brain shouting where have you met him before? What is his name? Weird, he really looks like that bloke who does Masterchef. Oh f*ck. It is that bloke who does Masterchef. The one you’ve never met …
I was described as ‘organic’ the other day. By a hairdresser. It didn’t really register at the time but I think I’ve realised what he meant. Call me shallow – you wouldn’t be the first – but I used to have much better hair/eyebrows/clothes/shoes. Now, I wouldn’t say I’ve completely let myself go but I’ve definitely had to …
Cats: never got them. Or rather, couldn’t quite connect with those referred to as ‘cat people’. Like you have to choose just one animal to love. A sweeping generalisation but I’ve always thought cat people smelt faintly of wee and were prone to preciousness. Then, a few weeks ago, the two year old was given a kitten for his …
A pair of Clarks shoes to be precise. I didn’t realise quite how much of a landmark it was at the time. All I’d done was wander past the shoe shop in town pushing the littlest one in the buggy on the way to the post office when a pair of shoes on the sale …
Big night in our village tonight: the Harvest Supper. I was on the ‘young’ table (i.e. six out of eight were under 45) and we were entertained by a singer who made her name singing the hook line for the old Fairy Liquid adverts. Then there was the raffle (notelets & dusty bottle of Hock: …
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