I was intent on getting some tender, sweet and dense Bosc pears for a dessert that had been running round and round inside my head and wouldn't leave me alone; a pear and candied ginger cheesecake. The family had been complaining about the dearth of desserts lately. Mutiny was in the air and I honestly had run out of ideas for tarting up vanilla ice cream.

After trawling three markets and two supermarkets and coming up empty, temptation presented itself in the form of canned pears. Ordinaril...

I've encountered this cocktail more than once, when island hopping around the Maldives. It's a zingy blend of citrus, ginger and mint that really makes the palate tingle while quieting the churning tummy discomfort that can arise from being tossed about the waves like a ragdoll in a toyboat, when the usually placid, and always beautiful, Indian Ocean is less agreable. After a bone rattling speedboat ride, under the relentlessly blistering Maldivian sun, on my last trip there late last year,...