ABOUT PENNY

My earliest memory of the foodie heaven must be seating underneath a straw hat on a sunny day amongst thousands of bright, red, sweet strawberries sitting quite contented whilst my mum picked to be sold at the wholesale market in Birmingham.

I come from humble beginnings mum and dad married when young and decided to buy a run down cottage in North Warwickshire; to renovate and raise their family. Dad rode a motorbike and went off to work really early and came back  late at night, so mum was homemaker and as she didn’t drive, trips to the supermarket were an hour long walk to Sutton Coldfield and back. So we were encouraged to use the 1/3 acre we had to grow vegetables and fruit, rear pigs, chickens and rabbit s as well as recycle old newspapers into logs to burn on mums beloved Rayburn.

The Rayburn which is still resident in my mum and dads cottage holds so many memories for me – my Grandpa was a master plumber and helped my dad to plumb in a water system to the Rayburn, so that not only did it warm, cook and comfort it was also responsible for all our hot water – which meant keeping it stocked with logs and coal was vital to family life!

When the pigs were ready for slaughter Ernie Jackson the butcher would arrive early in the morning and set up his butchers table in the back yard. The deed would be done and then Ernie would set to work, jointing the pigs to stock mum’s freezer. Dad would look forward to the pigs trotters simmering on the hotplate and us children would eagerly await the pork scratching slowly roasting in the oven – the smells wafting out of the kitchen; the crunch and salty flavour is such a vivid memory.

At the age of 14, I went to help out at the plant nursery owned by the Zako family – where my mum had worked for many years before. It was here I met up with John again (the owner’s son), we became firm friends and I looked forward to the school holidays and weekends when we worked together. There was and still is something so satisfying in growing plants from seeds and cuttings to see them flourish and then to sell them on to others to care for and take pleasure.

By now mum was working at the local theme park along with my two elder sisters, waiting on in the banqueting halls in the winter and serving in the sweet shop and kiosks during the summer months. Such long hours! This meant that the responsibility of preparing the evening meal fell to me, a daunting task initially but practise makes perfect and mum was a great teacher.

When money was tight we would make the most of what was available in the garden from which mum would coujour  up some weird and wonderful delights such as curried cabbage, artichoke crisps and pickled damson.

My Nan and grandad would visit every Saturday and with her nanny would bring a big bag of food for tea. We would boil half a dozen eggs and then I would set to, to create a salad platter with whatever Nan had bought – time to be creative! I remember crushing up the shells with my fingers and nanny sternly warning that this would give me warts! I’m not sure if that’s true but a good use for egg shells is to put them around plants that snails love to munch on, the hardness of the shells discourages them.

At the age of 18 I went to Birmingham University to study Theology and train as a teacher. I shared a house with my wonderful friend Lorna and two other girls, whilst they were content on pre-packed meals – I would mess up the kitchen with my culinary creations.

By now John and I were in a firm relationship and I went on holiday to Hungary the homeland of Steve, John’s dad.  Here I was introduced to the use of paprika, bell peppers and sour cream! Steve’s family were similar to my own very self-sufficient growing their own produce and rearing their own meat.

I qualified in 1994 with a 2-1 honours degree B.E.D. and the next year John and I married.

I am no longer teaching but help John run his family business – the plant nursery and garden centre that all those years before I had sat amongst the strawberries!

We have three children: Charlotte (14), James (12) and Annabel (6). Four years ago we built our own home and are living the life we have always wanted. We have our own veggie patch and soft fruit area including strawberries of course, and we have our family of chickens that produce the most wonderful eggs!

I also have another woman in my life! My beloved Aggie – my Aga!!  She is the heart of our

home and I love her, it is on our Aggie I create my recipes and feed my family and friends

read on and try some of them...