Good kitchen equipment is expensive, but most items last a lifetime and will pay for themselves over and over again

Memories are fallible and a timer can save a lot of hard work from going out of the window

In 35 years of being in the media, I've had all this mud flung at me many, many times. It's not the first time. It's nothing unusual. I've been through it all before and the best way to deal with it is not to read them

I cannot for the life of me understand what the Minister Of Transport does every day. He goes to the office at 9am and leaves at 5pm and the traffic in London is still horrendous.

Although a food processor is not an absolutely essential piece of equipment, because you can certainly chop, grate, slice, knead and mix everything by hand, it does do all these things very quickly and efficiently and saves you time and energy

A cake is a very good test of an oven: if it browns too much on one side and not on the other, it's not your fault - you need to have your oven checked.

There are people who claim to be instinctive cooks, who never follow recipes or weigh anything at all. All I can say is they're not very fussy about what they eat. For me, cooking is an exact art and not some casual game.