May is a lovely month to....

Have a baby.....

Welcome Charlotte Elizabeth Diana!

I do love a baby!

I see that Jamie Oliver had made a special cake for the Princess of Cambridge

The Royal Charlotte Lemon Drizzle Cake!

How scrumptious does that look?

You can find the recipe here.

Since I just got my order of edible violets and roses and flowers from Amazon.com, you KNOW this cake is going to be made here and likely this week!

Welcome Charlotte - we wish you a long and healthy life!


Clean the Garden...

The weather has finally turned and I have been raking and cleaning beds.  I am nowhere near done and I'm not going to lie - cleaning an acre + of lawn and gardens was not so bad at 42, but at 52, oy vey!

The first flower of the season - a Christmas Rose (Hellebore)
All of my gardening friends in Southern England - can't you weep for me?

This was outer banks of the garden on Sunday.  Yes - that is still snow.  It is nearly
gone today, thanks to 25+ C temperatures

We had so much snow and the winter was so hard that we had a lot of damage to our property. 

Our swimming pool must be replaced - the walls caved due to the weight of the snow.

Our grape arbour also died and we cut the grapes back drastically so Barry could build a new one.

Still, the joy of being outdoors in short sleeves can never be overstated.  It is magical.  My hummingbird feeders are back up and awaiting customers and the golden hawks arrived this past week.


Discover new (old) shows....

I finally discovered Call the Midwife!  I am crazy about this show!  It is always such a treat to find something new that you just adore and this is a goody!  I see a lot of binge-watching on Netflix in the coming weeks!

The plucky heroine reminds me of Dani in face and style:

Perhaps not as pretty as our Dani!

If you are like me and have been dithering whether to watch or not, cease the dither and do it!


Let other people cook for you.....

I have been invited out to dinner for the last three Saturdays and I highly recommend it!  All three meals were fantastic and what a treat to have a Saturday where you are cleaning or - ahem - reading and just not thinking about cooking at all!

At the last one, Barry was so well fed and comfortable he actually napped in the middle of it.  In this case, it was a sign of a very comfortable dinner!

Read something new....

Mostly these days I am reading middle grade and young adult, as per my writing genre (one must know one's market, particularly what is selling and what is winning awards!) but I like to intersperse with some classics and new books.

I am currently reading The Professor's House by Willa Cather.  I do not think I have read Cather before, so it was high time and I am really enjoying the book!  Any Cather lovers out there?

Make a plan for the summer....

Summer goes so fast, especially in a climate like mine, where it won't get warm and stay warm for at least another two or three weeks.  This year I have decided to make a list of things I would like to do/go/see/eat and actually do them. 

First thing on my list?  Make sure I go see one of the movies they show outdoors here in the summer time.  Called Movies Under the Stars, it is popular, and yet I have never been.  I will make it to one for sure!

Other things?  I wine tour of the Motts Landing winery, a trip to my favourite garden, Kingsbrae, a weekly drink downtown with Barry and any of our friends we can line up.  We don't do that enough, so I think it's time we did it!

Do you have any fun plans for the summer?


Blog more...

I have been so busy writing and rewriting that I haven't been here are much.  I promise 3 posts a week, and I think I will start with my latest adventure in style, which I am calling How Jennifer got Wendy's Groove back.  Stay tuned....


Other than that... T-14 days till Wendy and David McCullough finally meet and T-15 days till Wendy and Lane meet.  But who's counting...

Have a wonderful day!

xoxo wendy

Oh and I am posting more outfits these days over in Instagram @wendymacknight.  See you there!

Duck Ragu Anyone?

I love to cook, though I often find myself in the slump of cooking the same things over and over again for the family.

I fall victim to that slump whilst making my own lunches as well - I went one month straight making the same smoothie, now I am 2 weeks into having a spinach/avocado/lemon juice salad.

This past Sunday I was dying to do something a little more elaborate, so I turned to my old friend, Jamie Oliver.

I am firmly in the Jamie Camp, and he has yet to steer me wrong.

And I had duck on my mind...

Jamie is nothing if not exuberant; not only were we having a slow-cooked duck pasta, it was going to be gorgeous!

First you must roast the duck...

And whilst the duck is roasting, you are making a ragu of pancetta, carrots, celery, onions, herbs:

Then comes the tomatoes and wine:

Cook your rigatoni, shred the meat from the roasted duck, and toss it all together and bring it to the table:

Do you see the sun?  It was a miracle!

Then sprinkle on a little Parmesan cheese and voila!

My mouth is actually watering this morning thinking about this dish and I am pleased to say that it makes at least 6-8 servings, as we are having this for dinner again tonight.

For those interested, here's the recipe:

Recipe for Gorgeous slow-cooked duck pasta from Cook with Jamie

1 duck (or leftover roast duck)
olive oil
sea salt
freshly ground pepper 
1 orange
1 lb pasta (rigatoni or occhi di lupo work well)
2 knobs of butter 
1 large handful of freshly grated Parmesan cheese, plus extra for serving 
a small bunch of flat leaf parsley, finely chopped 
zest and juice of 1 orange 
red wine vinegar
For the sauce:
olive oil 
6 slices of pancetta, finely diced
1 red onion, peeled and finely diced 
2 carrots, peeled and finely diced
2 sticks of celery, trimmed and finely diced 
6 springs of fresh rosemary, leaves picked and finely chopped
1 stick of cinnamon 
4 cloves of garlic, peeled and finely sliced 
2x14 oz cans of good quality plum tomatoes 
1/2 a 750 ml bottle of fruity red wine (Valpolicella of Barbera works well)
chicken stock 
a handful of raisins 
a large handful of pinenuts
Preheat the oven 350ºF/180C
Stuff a duck with a quartered orange; rub the outside with olive oil, salt, and pepper; and roast, breast-side down in a roasting pan, for two hours, turning every 30 minutes. Let it cool, and pull off all the meat.
Pour some olive oil into a large pot. Fry the diced pancetta until golden. Add red onion, carrots, celery, rosemary, cinnamon stick, and sliced garlic cloves. Cook slowly until it all softens up (about 10 minutes). Add the plum tomatoes and red wine. Let simmer for about an hour. Shred the duck meat and add it to the sauce. Cook for another half hour, adding water or chicken stock if it becomes dry. Remove the cinnamon stick, and add a handful each pine nuts and golden raisins. Continue to simmer while the pasta cooks.
Cook the pasta in plenty of boiling, salted water. Drain (preserving some of the cooking water).
Toss the pasta into the sauce. Remove from the heat and stir in a knob of butter, a handful of grated Parmesan, the zest and juice of 1 orange, chopped parsley, and a splash of red wine vinegar.
Loosen the sauce with the reserved cooking water if necessary. Check seasonings. Served with parmesan.



I continue to work away at the spring cleaning and it is going quite well.

On Saturday afternoon I spent an hour cleaning out and organizing my buffet:

My "extra" plates, neatly stacked.  These are neither my china nor my everyday dishes.  I admit to being a sucker for pretty dishes, especially pretty dishes with birds on them...

Platters and salad bowl waiting for future dinner parties:

And a freshly polished buffet:

I also washed three glass vases of seashells - they get so dusty and I can only be bothered to do them every few months or so.

There is something very soothing to me about a jar of shells - these were collected by me a few summers ago at the beach:

I wish you could have all come to dinner on Sunday night - it was divine!  We had a nice bottle of Valpolicella to wash it all down and I would have gladly poured you a glass!

Have you been cooking anything special lately?  Do tell!

Have a wonderful Tuesday - I am off to get a haircut - I may take a few inches off this time!

Stay safe out there!

xoxo Wendy

Jamie Oliver and Sobeys

I think you should know that I am a HUGE fan of Jamie Oliver.

His pizza dough recipe is MY pizza recipe. From this cookbook:

 I applaud him for his work trying to teach children and their families about the importance of cooking and nutrition.

Barry will like this because his tongue is in his mouth...

So imagine my delight when I discovered that one of our local grocery chains, Sobeys (Maritime born and bred!) has partnered with Jamie to promote healthy food and cooking!  Well done Sobeys!

Our store now has lovely displays of healthy foods grouped together in pleasing ways and Jamie's recipes throughout the store and of course, Jamie cookware (there has to be something for Jamie besides just general goodwill I guess!)

But here's the thing: the gift collection is charming.  We have already bought the measuring cups.

Now having Jamie Oliver as a consultant does not suddenly make us shop at Sobeys, but I must admit, it is a great coup for Sobeys to get him and is an interesting counterpoint to the Galen Weston juggernaut! 

You can read the full article about the partnership here.

I personally love Jamie, have a lot of his cookbooks and find he and them to be reliably good food.

Anyone else spotting Jamie in their supermarket?

Have a great Tuesday and stay safe out there! 

And Jamie - if you are reading this - pop over around 5 - we are having spatchcocked chicken leftovers!

Oh wait!  Here is the picture of the original spatchcocked chicken:

It is from the October issue of Martha Stewart living (this is fresh from the oven before plating it with the cauliflower).  You can get the recipe online here. The non-vegans in my life raved about it and I must admit - it was very juicy and tasty!

Besides the cauliflower, I also mad a squash soup, of my own design:

There is never a recipe - just a couple of kinds of roasted squash, pureed with some veggie broth and then combined with curry, salt and pepper and fresh sage to taste.  We take our son a bowl at his job.

So that is REALLY all I have to say about cooking for today!