James Martin, My Kitchen: Scallops with black pudding and apple & Caramelised quince and apple tarts

Certain ingredients always seem like a real treat. Scallops is one - they are the sort of thing that is mostly encountered in restaurants and seem that bit too expensive to buy fresh. When I was still living on the south coast I remember my mum and I being the unexpected beneficiaries of glut of scallops. A family friend, who is a boat builder, had been paid for some work he had done for a fisherman with the most enormous sack of fresh scallops still in their shells. As his wife was away and there was no way he could possibly tackle such a feast on his own he gifted us some. I don't remember how we ate them - likely very simply pan fried. I do remember they were delicious.

The Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook: Coconut Meringue Cake

I've always read a lot of American food blogs, particularly baking ones. I think partly because the things they were baking were not necessarily part of the every day British baking lexicon - there were key lime pies, lemonade bars, tres leches cakes... I could go on.

What often baffled me a little about some of the blogs I read was the prevalence of using box mixes to make cakes. It must be a difference in culture because over here my impression has always been that box mixes are mostly deployed by parents to placate children who want to bake looking for an easy option. In the States, however, it seems like it is commonplace to bake from these rather than 'from scratch' and often a box of  cake mix will be the starting point for a recipe that then goes on to add extra eggs, milk, butter. You know, the things that would go into a normal cake.  It always seemed like an oddly lazy option to me, particularly for people who were supposed to be keen bakers. Maybe these cakes turned out to be delicious though, who knows? We don't get 'white cake box mix' here so I will never find out.

Easy Soup - Tuscan Bean Soup

On a week that has ended with me feeling distinctly under par due to catching the stomach bug that has been going around at work (worse still not even in the office I actually work in but one I had to spend some time in this week) cooking has not exactly been at the forefront of my mind. Meals have been necessarily beige, convenient and heavily toast based. Drained of energy I have spent most of my time lying in bed reading Little Women or watching the latest series of Grace and Frankie on Netflix, everything has revolved around comfort.

Feeling a little better last night I went to a friend's Birthday party and sipped tonic water whilst catching up with colleagues from my previous role. It wasn't a late night but today I feel a bit worse for wear again so another day curled up on the sofa beckons whilst eating English muffins and sipping tea. 

Sundays, however, are also the day of the week where I try to sort out my lunches for the work week. This time of year this mostly means cooking up a large batch of soup.

Tokyo: Cult Recipes - Ramen with Pork Simmered In Star Anise

One of the many 3D signs in Dotonburi, Osaka

Most people have a bucket list destination, somewhere they have always wanted to visit. For me this is Japan. My oldest friend's mother is Japanese and I grew up with her incredible cooking, watching Japanese cartoons (some of which it turns out sound terrifying when you explain them to British friends), playing the latest Nintendo releases in Japanese and being incredibly jealous every year when my friend and his family went to Japan every Christmas to see his family. Last year my husband and I were fortunate to be able to go there on honeymoon and it definitely lived up to my childhood expectations.

Recipe Book Magpie

Just a small sample of my collection

I am a bit of a magpie when it comes to recipe books. I am magnetically drawn to the cookery section of bookshops where I would happily spend ages flicking through the newest, beautifully put together, tomes of recipes with their richly coloured photographs and lists of exotic (and not so exotic) ingredients. When a new book comes home it becomes my bedtime reading - and then often stays by my bed for some time before find its way onto the shelves in the kitchen. This does have the slight drawback that I often go to bed with a massive craving for some elaborate feast.