ABOUT ME

From the fairways to the kitchen, my journey has been anything but ordinary. After a golf injury forced me to leave my sporting career behind, I turned my lifelong love of food into a new passion. I trained at catering college, honed my skills in London hotels, and by the age of 19 I was turning three shops in Cyprus into a large restaurant for my father. Homesickness eventually brought me back to the UK, where I cooked my way through restaurants and hotels across Britain.

In 1998, Spain called — and I answered by opening a restaurant that I proudly ran for 12 years. Back home on the south coast, I went on to build and run a wine bar in Gosport, a lively pub in New Milton, and a restaurant in Fareham before returning to Essex to launch my own freelance catering company. After decades of cooking for others, I finally hung up my apron in 2024… but I wasn’t ready to stop sharing my love for food.

I’ve since poured my passion into writing cookbooks — I’m now working on my eighth! My five bestselling Soup Maker Cookbooks are especially close to my heart, exploring the endless, creative combinations that can transform simple ingredients into bowls of comfort.

My cooking style is classic with a twist of fusion, and these days you’ll often find me creating dishes inspired by my love of Indian curries, Thai spices, and Chinese flavours. My food philosophy is simple: waste nothing — every ingredient has potential. Recipes, for me, are memories reborn. If I taste something wonderful in a restaurant, my trained palate helps me recreate it at home, adding my own flair.

What gives me the biggest buzz? It’s not just cooking — it’s seeing someone smile when they enjoy one of my dishes or hearing from a reader who loved a recipe from my books.

When I’m not experimenting in the kitchen, I’m hoping to dust off my golf clubs again (if this old body allows it). Above all, I want my website to be a place that feels warm, humorous, and full of flavour — much like my cooking.