I have a phobia; several in fact! But the phobias I refer to here are food related, or more accurately, related to the preparation of food. There are many food items I will not eat under any circumstances. I draw a firm line at eating something, raw, alive or wriggling, as in Oysters! Pardon me, I’ll be straight back, but I feel the need for Smelling Salts… In the preparation of food and my personal phobias, pastry and bread making fit into that category. The very sensation of rubbing in, kneading, the stickiness, mixtures collecting in my nails makes me shudder, revolted, NHS counselling is required! I’m not much of a chopper either. ...  Read the complete review

I bought my new Magimix Compact Food Processor at Index and it has to be the best thing I've bought for my kitchen in years. It cost £179 which sounds a lot for a food processor but it really is good value. My first project was to make a perfect salad. You know, one of those where everything looks as though it has been chopped or shredded by an expert chef. The cheese grater attachment went through a 500 gram block of hard cheese in less than a minute. Infact it was so fast that I was almost caught unaware when I got to end of the block. This machine is very powerful. Next I decided to slice some carrots, onions, cucumber and tomatoes. There are ...  Read the complete review