You will probably be seeing more fish posts here soon, for a very good reason. One of my boys has been diagnosed with learning difficulties and we've been strongly advised to include much more fish oils in his diet, as they're believed to significantly help children with learning challenges, both from supplementary as well as dietary sources. The  next step would be Ritalin therapy, and for us, that would be an absolute last resort. Absolute.

We do everything together; when my mum was advi...

I am a cake fiend. I can't go two days without baking something and lately, my husband's been grumbling about a thickening middle (his of course) and the amount of sweet treats the children have been scarfing down owing to my baking mania. I thought of how to cut down both the butter and sugar in a cake recipe, as well as reduce cholesterol, for my mum's benefit, without sacrificing taste to the point that it's no longer worth eating. I've never liked prunes - their very name inspires depress...

I saw a gorgeous fillet of salmon on the fishmonger's slab and knew right away that I wanted to eat it with the Yukon Gold potatoes and the almost needle fine beans I'd bought the day before. Cooking food sealed in parchment paper is a classical French method known as "en papillote". I love, love, love this way of preparing fish as it's almost laser quick, mess free, healthy and relies very little on fat for flavour.

What you get is a cut of fish cooked to absolute perfection, which for me,...

There are times I'll bet, when like me, you feel like the inside of a garbage bin. Days, maybe even weeks of eating anything that crosses your path, the first thing you see when you open the fridge door, or two-thirds of your pal's taco chips, if she still dares to open a bag when you're within sight. I usually feel this way post Christmas and New Year's, after all that wanton and mindless feasting and will almost always repent slowly and painfully for the first 2 months or so, of the new yea...