March 2026 was the launch month of the 30^th anniversary edition of The Cook’s Companion, my best-known work. This newsletter is a wander through some of the events that have helped to mark this momentous moment.  It takes a team and there was a great team. I worked very closely with my editor Caroline Pizzey as we nit-picked together through every line in the book. I marked any recipe I thought needed to be relooked at, discarding just a few that seemed repetitive and finding spaces for over 70 completely new ones. Any recipe with a query and several of the new ones were test-cooked by the very clever Natalie Paull and led to some lovely lunches. And former CEO of the Kitchen Garden Foundation, Josephene Duffy, researched facts and contacted growers and industry associations. She had some fascinating discussions. The world of food does not stand still and even since publication there have been changes – too late for inclusion and there will not be another edition. The production has been supported by the team at Penguin Random House and the tactile stunning cover design is the work of designer Sandy Cull…

This is the final newsletter for 2025 and it just happens to be my 100th. I do enjoy writing them and hope that they amuse and entertain readers. I enjoy watching the world light up when we push the button on Campaign Monitor and see the newsletter being opened and read in the USA, in Europe and in other exotic parts of the world. Overwhelmingly my readers are in Australia and the contents reflect that. I have felt quite comfortable with my grasp of technology to date but it races on at such a speed. Not just Substack but now AI and ChatGPT and lots of other platforms are making my world more challenging. I am well and truly ready to hand over to the next generation of tasters and commentators. Not before my final fling however with the anticipated arrival of the 30^th anniversary edition of The Cook’s Companion, currently being printed in China…

It is no secret that my BIG project for 2025 (and 2024) has been the creation of a thoroughly revised and expanded 30^th anniversary edition of The Cook’s Companion. I have lived and breathed this project, reflected upon recipes to be recooked, adjusted or even rejected to make room for more new ones; followed up research leads, spoken to industry experts and to other foodlovers and it is comforting but a bit amazing that it is nearing completion. Second page proofs returned – a big sigh…back again with a very few last comments and suggestions from publisher’s in-house editors. Getting closer and closer. We now have a new cover from Sandy Cull – it links tightly with the last major revision in 2014 and yet sparkles in a very new and thoroughly modern manner. I am now impatient to see the first advance…

The stunning Autumn leaves have all gone. The smoke bush let go of its leaves last of all. It is cold and the path is slippery. In preparation for spring my miniature daffodils are shooting and I had to photograph the first flowers. I have a spring carpet of oldfashioned scented cream freesias and I see that they have all straightened up and have buds, ready to burst in a week or so. Thanks to our moderate temperatures my sage and rosemary and thyme bushes are still giving generously. The lemons look a bit pathetic this year. I suspect that the very tall crepe myrtles are keeping the sun from them…

I am aware of the long intervals between my newsletters. I have been head down into the finishing touches of the Draft One of the revised Cook’s Companion and am now rather anxiously awaiting the first pages from the typesetter…

I love writing these newsletters but just sometimes life gets in the way and they are hopelessly delayed. This has been the case. But there were reasons. The BIG one first of all…