I ♥ Donna Hay

I signed up for Donna Hay's newsletter this afternoon. I figured a little gossip, some helpful kitchen advice and some free recipes would never go astray. Not in this house.

What I really wanted to do was visit her shop after viewing these beautiful photographs of it. Do take a look. Sadly, a trip to Sydney is not in the pipeline any time soon, so unless Donna opens a Melbourne store I'll have to content myself with her newsletter - and her magazine which my sister subscribes to on my behalf and which therefore magically appears in my letterbox on a regular basis.

I ♥ Donna's magazine. The woman is an exceptional food stylist, and the magazine's presentation has tempted me to try many a dish that otherwise would not have graced our table. I like the way she uses common sense too. Why, for example would you use homemade puff pastry to bake a pie? The stuff is nightmarishly difficult to make at home and is never cheap, not with all that butter between the layer upon layer. Donna tells you to go and buy some. I like that. She uses common ingredients too. Not verjuice and pheasant like some other Australian cook who will remain nameless, but is easy to find simply by putting these two words into google and pressing 'search'. (I would actually like her recipes too if it weren't for the above two criticisms of them.)

My favourite Donna Hay magazines are the annual kids' issues. Jemimah cooked brownies from the current edition this afternoon. Most of the recipes in the kids' editions are suitable for my 7 year old to cook as part of our weekly kitchen garden lesson. Her styling might not be quite Donna's level every time, but sometimes she surprises me - like today.





Absolutely nothing bad with the look - or taste of those brownies.

Thanks Donna.

Thanks Jemimah.