recent Lifestyle blogs
filo tart…

filo tart…

Winter is the season of comfort food. When the nights draw in very early and it's dark and cold, we tend to cook comfort food. Hearty stews, thick soups, pasta dishes often loaded with a sauce, Sunday roasts. The kind of food that is often followed by a snooze on the...

spanakopita

spanakopita

No visits to Greece is ever complete, without numerous visits to local bakeries for the delicious spanakopita, those gorgeous filo parcels, packed full of spinach and feta and pine nuts. Back home from idyllic Greek islands, I’d never contemplated trying to replicate...

joujou botanicals…

joujou botanicals…

When we first moved here, unless I could get candles at IKEA in Trieste, I used to wait until our trips back to the UK to raid the shelves of TK Maxx and HomeSense and fill up the boot of car with coloured jars of scented lusciousness. We had too many other things to...

restoran no 4 : sibenik : dalmatia

restoran no 4 : sibenik : dalmatia

Šibenik is an absolutely delightful city, on the dalmatian coast of Croatia. We're up in northern Istria, so it is quite far away from us - just over 400kms - but as the drive is largely along the E65, the Adriatic Highway, it's a pleasure to do. The road literally...

spicy thai chicken soup…

spicy thai chicken soup…

I'm not sure why we would have this soup if on the menu when eating out, but we never actually made it ourselves. Until now. I think I just assumed because of its flavoursome quality and spiciness that it would be a real faff. Plus, we don't tend to eat a lot of meat...

red lentil dahl…

red lentil dahl…

It's not a difficult dish to make, but there are many, many recipes out there for dahl. I think however, we've found the perfect recipe, because of the balance of flavours and texture. I found it on this website, but the author of the recipes/blogs goes into so much...

pistachio pesto…

pistachio pesto…

OK, if you have a nut allergy, DO NOT - and I repeat *DO NOT* - try out this recipe. If you don't, and you are a fan of the pistachio nut, DO try it out. Because not only is it stupendously delicious, it is beyond easy to make, takes very little time, very little...

at last…online grocery delivery!

at last…online grocery delivery!

We're very used to getting in the car and driving to the supermarket. We're not lazy - it's just we've had no alternative. We live in a small village and although it has four very renowned restaurants, it has no shop, Once we'd arrived here, four and a half years ago...

spicy spanish sausage stew…

spicy spanish sausage stew…

I like nothing better than a one pot dish, into which I can just chuck everything and leave it to get on with cooking itself. Recipes like this one, also have the advantage of being easy on the washing up, as the stew is just turned out into big bowls. Perfect! what...

april in istria…

april in istria…

We've realised that there is little point in trying to predict the weather in April in Istria. This our fourth April here and previously, we've had fierce Bura winds coming down from Slovenia. Torrential rain. Soaring temperatures. And this year, just to be different,...