Tractors, Cheltenham Ladies and Nutty Krust!

It’s not every day that I attend a horse race however last night’s was special. It was the final of the AGA Total Control Ladies Point to Point Race at Cheltenham Racecourse. I was there in attendance and what a great night of Hospitality AGA provided. Congratulations to the winners and how lucky Claire Hart is to have won an AGA Total Control cooker. After 10 years of working for AGA I now know the dilemma she faces. What colour? Well there are 13 of them!

Raindrops keep falling…

Anyone who knows me knows that I find it difficult to switch off. Whenever a holiday approaches I always find myself doing the same thing: I promise that I will take a break this time, that I will put away the laptop, tidy away the notes, stop thinking about work for a while and rest up. Of course, this never happens – or at least it only does so for a day or two. Believe me, I’ve found myself lying awake in a cool bed in an air-conditioned room in everywhere from Miami to Jamaica, my mind swimming with ideas for cookery books, television programmes and new forms of cooking technology.

Let’s hear it for New York – London, Belfast and …..

Looking back through old blogs, and reflecting upon the thousands of words scribbled here, I’ve begun to realise something. There are two recurrent themes in my writing: food and travel. These, one could argue, are your most basic human imperatives. I might complain about it, but I’ve always felt the need to go exploring, to discover new worlds – brave or otherwise.This urge gives my life a strange, often frustrating propulsion: I get twitchy if I stay in the same place for too long, yet I get homesick when I’ve been away for too long. And I’m away from home a lot.

Of course, the reason that I find myself in a state of perpetual motion is because of food and kitchen appliances. If I had never chosen the profession in which I am now ensconced, I sorely doubt that I would have trotted as much of the globe as I have. People all over the world need food and kitchen appliances, and in most instances they like their food to be tasty and not too much hassle to prepare. It’s that need which has led to me demonstrating cooking techniques from Land’s End to John O’ Groats, and from The Great Wall Of China to Toronto’s CN Tower.

It’s Been An Odd Few Days…

I didn’t want to start this latest dispatch on a melodramatic note, but please indulge me: if you never see or hear from me again, thank you for your patience, your hospitality and, above all, for buying the books. In case you didn’t already know, at the end of this week I am jetting off [...]

Novocaine And Turkeys

I’m in pain, folks. Serious pain. Physical, emotional, mental… you name it, I’m feeling it.
Boo hoo, you might say. Stop your whinging, James. Dry your eyes. Everyone’s life is tough at times, so suck it up.
But seriously. Hold your horses. Listen. Let me ask you: how many of you spend your days with the frozen body of a dead turkey?
Yes, you heard me. A dead turkey. At the moment I seem to spend more time in the company of frozen poultry than with living, breathing humans.