Sweet Touch: A Christmas food love story

"Nobody will argue with me when I say I was born two things: an animal lover and a foodie. For as long as anyone can remember I was pretty much obsessed with both! As a small child, I played hooky from school to grow vegetables in the garden with my childhood best friend, my grandfather. In early summer, when the first broad beans arrived on our table, I often remember how he indulged my irrational hatred of them by looking the other way when I carefully removed the little seeds he had dropped in our very straight lines and shoved them in my pockets before hastily covering the holes – I do wonder if his somewhat animated head-scratching when they failed to grow was for my benefit – I like to think it was."

2

"I began riding at an early age and haven’t stopped since. I spent my teens in a haze of ponies and hot chocolate with my best friend, and I feel lucky to look back and remember these days as the stuff Enid Blyton books are made of – pure, unadulterated fun. And now, I have the thrill of teaching her daughter, my goddaughter to ride. With luc,k she’ll find her perfect partner in crime, too.

Of course, it was my mother, the most imaginative cook, who taught my sister and I to cook from an early age. My brother, no doubt advised quite rightly by my father early on that a house full of fiercely competitive women was all a man needed to keep himself well fed, did not get involved, but proved to be an excellent taster.