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.

A New Decade

So, it’s that time of year again, when everybody pauses to reflect upon the months gone by and mainly think about two things:

1. How quickly the year has passed and how quickly the resolutions I made in January were broken.

2. The Christmas holidays are all but over and it’s time to go back to work.

Neither of these is the most cheering of thoughts, so it’s probably best avoiding those topics for now, particularly as this evening most people the length and breadth of the United Kingdom will be heading out for some intensive partying.

Frankfurt Book Fair

The poet T. S. Eliot famously said that his life had been measured out with coffee spoons. I, on the other hand, have measured out mine with plane journeys. I’ve flown nearly a dozen times during the past fortnight. Frankly, I’m sick of flying.

However, I’m going to have to lump it because later this week I jet off yet again for the Frankfurt Book Fair. This annual event is, not to put too fine a point on it, a big deal. Lasting five days and attracting more than a quarter of a million visitors, it provides the likes of me with a critical marketing exercise. It’s a vital opportunity for me to secure international publishing rights for my series of cookbooks so the pressure is on.

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 [...]

testing, testing, 1,2,3,4,5…….

In 1982, the German and, frankly, slightly crazy, director Werner Herzog made a film called Fitzcarraldo. It tells the story of an Irishman named Brian Sweeney Fitzgerald, who hopes to makes his fortune by collecting rubber in Peru (surely “mining” isn’t the correct word – insert joke about hitting rubber with pickaxes here). Fitzgerald hatches [...]