First of all – hello! I’m Jo, and I’ve known Chris for an awfully long time now, and eaten many a home cooked meal with him.  I’m delighted that he asked me to contribute to his blog, since I’m a keen cook and love to share my foodie thoughts. I thought I’d start with something pretty basic – pastry.

I’d like to welcome Jo Hopkinson as a new author at Food Adventure. Jo is an old friend of mine, who has followed and encouraged my food writings, but I know has a lot to contribute herself.

As someone who BBQs a lot for unpredictable numbers, I am used to using up cooked burgers and bangers. One of the things I like about slow-smoked burgers is that they end up moist enough that they reheat well in a microwave the next day.

This is not really intended as a recipe; although feel free to use it that way. This is simply the first of several cooks that I am going to document, so I have something to refer back to.

Sorting out my cupboards, freezer and my conservatory, which has also been doing service as a larder during the winter.

Experiments with my new coffee maker are going well. Initially, I had some issues with the temperature of the coffee coming out of the machine – fine if you drank it immediately, but it quickly went luke warm. I was almost considering returning it for a refund.