Penny's Plate

23/04/2026

Last week while staying near Hastings we visited Jonny's mum's Pot Woman no.5 as part of The Open Odyssey exhibition .contemporary. Sally sculpted it using clay from the sea when the tide is out. This Pot Woman is just one of many she has very cleverly created.

We then headed to The Snug at to see Sally's twin sisters' work lining the walls there. We both had the most delicious roast lamb dish, and the kids ate well, it's the kind of pub you could find yourself in for hours!

There were many quality pieces at the Hastings Contemporary exhibition, especially those focusing on immigration to the UK. I highly recommend a visit if you can 🤍

28/01/2026

Well this is exciting, I've finally got my hands on Jenny Chandler's Green Kids Book 📗

I’m on a roll of 'food exploring' with the kids recently, and I've found using this term a gentle and exciting way of encouraging them to try new flavours.

Tonight's meal was appreciated so much that Louis has asked for the same again tomorrow, it's always such a relief when a new dish goes down well! I cooked One Pot Chicken and Orzo - which isn't actually one of Jenny's as the book arrived while I was cooking said meal.

Anywho, what I love so far about the book is that not only are there recipes, but also messages for children, and adults, about shopping locally, eating seasonally and naturally, and how this can benefit not only is but also the planet. I love it.

💚

09/11/2025

A mini break to the countryside for food, art and rest with 💛

We went into the cheese cave and surprise surprise ate cheese and charcuterie, followed by small plates and a beer, walked, ate more, slept, ate, walked, did art, walked, home!

The perfect girly foodie weekend 👭🏼

(Starts planning the next)

01/11/2025

Halloween
It wasn’t the trick or treat that was the speciality of this evening,

It was the old man’s ears that had grown pointy, making me do a double take

The bat that cried out as it flew overhead in a built up estate

That thick black spider that ran out from underneath a basket at bedtime

The decorations knocking on the front door keeping me on my toes

Our pumpkin coloured cat disappearing in the rain and being spooked when returning

The moon, not full, but still big and glowing behind whispy clouds

And the wind, howling through the trees, blowing the curtains and moving the doors.

It was the supernature that was reaching out to me, louder than the clatter and chatter of Halloween.

It was Samhain.

🖤

26/10/2025

A week away with the family on Skiathos island 🩵

We stayed with the Organic King & Queen of the island thanks to their lovely daughter 🥗

Geof & Lida have lived on the island since the '70's and have built all that they own (including 3 houses and the road that leads to them!). They kept chickens and goats to provide eggs, meat, milk, yogurt and cheese for their family, while also running a successful organic market garden for years. They still harvest the olives and grow veg and fruit on their land. A truly inspirational couple, and utterly charming.

26/10/2025

Food and nature is totally entwined on Skiathos island, I love that so much. You can taste the landscape in this pot of honey; herbs, pine and flowers ... totally divine.

When traveling around the island you are never far from the potent sweet and sometimes astringent scents of nature. Even when traveling around the coast by boat the bushes of honeysuckle let you know you're getting near the shoreline. Never before have a experienced this, it's entrancing.

03/10/2025

I'm thrilled to announce I'm now a Ambassador as part of their Farm to Fork programme 🌾

Myself and and an amazing cohort have just finished some training at the sublime - my new favourite farm shop 🧑🏼‍🌾

For years I've been admiring the work that the Soil Association do, and now to be involved, even just in a small way, excites me and I can't wait to see what's going to happen next 💚

29/08/2025

03/03/2025

😺 I absolutely utterly swear that I didn’t intentionally make or serve up my dahl and rice in the shape of a cat!! I had even stuck the kid's leftover pitta in just as a way of carrying it through.
I realised as I was walking through to our cute little kitten 😻

I now feel like I have Kitten Brain ... It's definitely not as bad as Baby Brain, but I'm pretty sure it's a thing, isn't it?

07/02/2025

40 today and I've just had breakfast like a queen, and been given the perfect petit pastry 🥳