Laurie Graham

It all started with the rhubarb. I saw it in the supermarket and just had to take it home, transform it into a baked crumble, anoint it with vanilla ice cream and take a stroll down memory lane. I’d forgotten about rhubarb. In Italy it’s regarded as a weed fit, at best, for turning into a nasty…

  For the past few weeks, ever since I read that the Duchess of York was searching for the lotus flower within, I’ve taken the precaution of keeping a sickbag to hand. Whatever else she’s been up to between the shopping malls of St Maarten and the ski slopes of Verbier she has certainly done her…

Mr F and I were highly chuffed to be woken at 7am with news of the dramatic arrival of our newest granddaughter who couldn’t be bothered waiting around for the professionals. She was delivered by our son-in-law. I believe I’m right in saying he was using his spare hand to pour out Rice Krispies for his 2-year old.…

 Congratulations to the perennially excellent Inspector Gadget who has stumbled on a surefire way of making contact with his Chief Superintendant. When Gadget needs him to do something important, like authorising covert surveillance of a suspected paedophile seen hanging around the local playground, the boss can’t be found. But if Gadget refuses to attend yet another…

So having vowed, on this very platform, to stop reading Sunday newspapers and all their fatuous ‘lifestyle’ articles, this past weekend I slipped. Well, we had a houseguest, a leisurely start to the morning, bacon and eggs, you get the picture? It seemed to cry out for a Sunday paper. But what did I find, screaming at me…

    Our house is blessed. The priest arrived with breathtaking punctuality, sank into an armchair and proceeded to gas for an hour. The story of his life, the story of ours. It was all very interesting and congenial and as we edged closer to lunchtime I learned that a) he’s diabetic (forget the cake) and…

We’re a bit behind with our annual house blessing this year, the traditional time being Theophany, but better late than not at all. Fr. Michael is coming tomorrow morning. For the past ten years we were in a Greek parish and so dropped into their way of doing things. Greek priests slosh the Jordan water…

 My eye was caught yesterday by one of those little non-news stories that resonate, for all their silliness.   A young woman, a student at a British university, with hopes of making a career in broadcasting, bid in a charity auction for the opportunity to work for a week as intern to veteran broadcaster Vanessa…

First an apology to those readers who asked, longer ago than I care to think, for the chocolate chilli recipe. I can only plead slipshod housekeeping. A purring, well-oiled website is all too easy to ignore. Until someone points out that you have 630 unanswered messages in your mailbox, and not all of them offering you cheap pharmaceuticals. So…

  Actually, up about four hours ahead of any larks in Dublin 6. I was drinking my first cup of tea at 5am this morning. Well, my alarm clock, set for 5.30, was sitting like sweating gelignite on my night table and I thought what the hell, catch it unawares, turn the damned thing off…