A not at all guilty confession

I like cooking and making a table look pretty. I like collecting old china and trying new recipes. I like the way that the family come together like a flock of seagulls as the smell starts to filter through the house. I even like setting the breakfast table as prettily as I can and as early as I can. That way, when I go in to have breakfast (which I have, of course, made myself), I can feel as if I’m going into a pretty bed and breakfast. There are fresh rolls or a loaf of bread waiting, and proper butter, jams and marmalades, or scrambled egg and maybe bacon and tomatoes as well, because the smell of cooking bacon is the best wake-up call you can get.

I started doing this during Covid, and then decided to think of our home as ‘The Victorian House by The Sea.’ I blogged about that ages ago, because housework and clearing out is so much more fun if I’m creating my perfect bed and breakfast or Airbnb. It made me look at my bedding and towels, and how do they manage to get all shabby without you noticing?

I’d always wanted to live by the sea, but it wasn’t until a few years ago that I watched an episode of Escape to the Country where the presenter said that a house that was a thirty-minute walk from the sea meant that you were living by the sea. At the same time, a lottery grant restored the Harbourside Park, which does what it says on the tin and runs alongside the harbour. Now it has a cycle path and a separate walking path, it’s a Site of Special Scientific Interest, so there’s loads of wildlife and a little wood. On top of that, there’s a gorgeous converted horse box cafe, and it’s all less than half an hour from home.

I now have seaside bedding and pictures, a garden I love to sit in and work on, and a kitchen I love to cook in. There’s always more to do, but liking cooking makes all sorts of things possible. So does looking carefully at special offers when I do my internet orders and trying new recipes.

Now I’m revamping my blog to celebrate what I’m calling Writers Day, which is actually the fourth anniversary of my first book being published on Kindle, and it seemed only natural to share some of my favourite recipes with you by creating a new section. So many of my books revolve around food, because hangry is a real thing, and so is the power of a good meal in friendly company, so soon you’ll be able to read the books and then try the recipes!

I hate all the complicated shows like The Great British Bake Off and Masterchef because it makes cooking seem dramatic and difficult. I don’t want dramatic and difficult. I want simple, reliable recipes and gadgets that work like my bread machine, mixer and food processor. I want meals that don’t take long to cook or leave me with loads of washing up. I want to be able to enjoy cooking in my kitchen with a mug of coffee and some bouncy music. I find Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra and Patrizio Buanne or Julio Iglesias add to my feeling that this is a happy place, and if I dance around, then who cares? I like a daft pinny too, and my family likes eating, so everyone’s happy!

So that’s what’s coming in early May, and today, on Mothering Sunday, I need to thank all mothers and send a virtual hug to all those like me who’ll be thinking of their mothers and wishing they could give them a hug and tell them how much they love them. I can’t, but I’ll remember her with recipes and smile as I think of the day we went for a Mothering Sunday Pub Lunch, and she asked for horseradish sauce to go with her roast beef. It took so long to arrive that she was saying, ’ I wonder if they had to buy it’ when a breathless youngster came rushing in carrying a jar of it. Only in Dorset! But it was a lovely meal and a lovely memory, so I hope my lovely readers make lovely memories whenever they celebrate the amazing beings known as Mothers.