Hello folks! 

I have declared it a #SummerOfBacon, and to celebrate there is a Flash Sale on Bacon the Cookbook for £18 (instead of the retail price of £25).

It is a bit of a bargain!

For £18 you get:

 – one of 2021s most colourful and enthusiastic cookbooks

 – with a scratchproof cover, because it will live in your kitchen!

 – with 80+ recipes covering every possible mood and occasion

 – accessible and fun – because it should be fun

Get your signed copy over on baconthecookbook.com.

This offer applies while stocks last. Continue reading

Fourteen years ago I quietly changed my life with one small step.

Of course, I had no idea I was. There were no big plans. Just a deep desire to write and express myself about all things food and travel which had been festering for years and had to be exorcised from my heart and head to the stove and the page.

Perched at my desk in the dark hallway of my Kilburn flat I first said hello from this fresh new website, and announced my intentions.

Here I am today, 14 years later after sharing hundreds of recipes, travel stories and two books later. I still feel like I am only getting started because there is so much more that I want to do!

You must embrace your dreams and follow your heart

I am also here to tell you that you must follow your heart. Whatever they are, announce your intentions, even just to yourself at first. It’s powerful. Once you sow the seed it will start to grow, then you must nurture it. Continue reading

Bacon the Cookbook has been out in the world for just over 3 months now. I have spent many hours signing and posting over 1000 copies to you. Your feedback has been everything. This book was a very intense labour of love. I am so delighted – thank you! I wanted to celebrate by spreading the bacon love further this Easter.

I am offering 20% off Bacon the Cookbook as well as the tote bags and tea towels, just for this weekend, until Monday at midnight (UK time). So, if you have the book but want a high quality and practical gorgeous tote or tea towel, now is your opportunity! If you don’t have the book yet, now is your time. Use code EasterJoy on baconthecookbook.com. I will sign your book and get it in the post to you ASAP!

I am currently shipping from the UK to all of Europe. Shipping outside of Europe is available on request. This is because postal prices change weekly depending on pandemic surcharges and this variation is larger for books that need to go further. I am very happy to do this though, just reach out to me at hello at eatlikeagirl dot com to arrange it.

Don’t just take my word for it! 

Thanks from the bottom, top and middle of my heart to everyone who has taken the time to share their Bacon cooking adventures and helped spread the #BaconTheCookbook love. So grateful! 

This is a small selection of feedback from social media from people who have enjoyed the book. Have a look for #BaconTheCookbook on social media to see more. Continue reading

​Bacon the Cookbook is now on sale! It is packed with gorgeous, tasty recipes and is a perfect antidote to the pandemic. It is a limited print release and is available from BaconTheCookbook.com. An ebook will go on sale next week also. 

Some good news for 2020. A new cookbook from me!

I am so very excited to let you know that my second cookbook, Bacon the Cookbook, publishes this week (on Thursday 17th December!). It is 224 pages of words and recipes devoted to Bacon and recipes and colour.

There are 80+ recipes, lots of photography, some wittering and a little pontification, but in the very best way, as you will expect. The recipes veer from the familiar to the unexpected and the outright comforting.

If you love bacon, and doing something a little different in the kitchen, you will love this book. You don’t need to be an expert, every recipe is explained in detail, and I keep it light. If you are already a competent cook, it is full of new ideas for you! There are lots of tidbits of info, and tips too.

Dare I say it is the perfect antidote to the pandemic. Yes, I do! These are big claims, but I spent a very long time on this book, and you will see that the book lives up to it. I have worked too hard and for too long on this to be understated. Why must we be understated to be accepted? I can’t help but rebel.

How did Bacon the Cookbook come about?

You may remember that fizz of bacon action which was very visible here some years back. My Bacon Masterclasses and Sunday Bacon Club, maybe you even attended and caught the bug. That evolved into the idea for this book, and I have been working on it for the last, well, quite a few years! 

I worked with a wonderful publisher (Quadrille) for my first book. For my second book, I wanted to work on something that was more design oriented and I wanted more of my personal stamp on it. I wanted to be more involved. I decided that I would embark on what would prove to be quite an extensive and intense publishing journey.

Bacon the Cookbook – the contents and a preview of some of the recipes

This article is published in partnership with Tourism Nova Scotia, who sponsored this post. Tourism Nova Scotia are inviting us to dream now and travel later.

In 19 years in London, nearly 20, this will be the first year that I won’t have once left its boundaries. I have barely left my neighbourhood. Instead, my life was distilled to essentials and became very simple. That is a luxury I know. My work was affected but I didn’t lose my job. I don’t have kids to homeschool. I accept the changes, I understand the need to be still for a while and I am embracing it, as much as I can.

Short days and long dark nights give ample time to dream

Summer was easier, it was even lovely. Now it is winter. The days close early and my time outdoors is brief, if at all. As the days close further I withdraw and I start to daydream, as I love to do when I can steal a chance. I even dare to make plans. Loose plans, no dates. Expectations carefully managed. Plotting places I want to return to, people I want to see. Friends and family to reunite with.

It is a small tight list, built on top of my list of my lifetime, however long that will be. In there is a plan to visit Nova Scotia with friends. The idea of Nova Scotia was planted in my head many years ago by my father. Friends of his had relocated there, it sounded like a fascinating place. Then I made friends with Nova Scotians in London, and then more. They moved home and now I go to visit and explore, to soak up the culture, the terrific food and wine.

There is an easy familiarity between Irish people like myself and Nova Scotians. The same sense of fun, an easy-going attitude to life. The same love of story and song. Continue reading