As a linguist and a language teacher, I’ve always loved playing with letters and sounds, but lately it’s my son who’s been getting into rhyme. He’ll start conversations with, “Train, plane, crane… also cane! Cane sounds a bit like crane!” The other day, he enlisted my help to come up with words that rhyme with ‘caught’.…
What would your first thought be if you were asked to baby-sit your friend’s kids? Would you reply, “Yes, but only if they’re asleep”? Would you pause if it involved the changing of dirty nappies? Would you scan your bookshelves to see what DVDs you could take to keep them entertained? Would you check the…
I was young, I was inexperienced, and needed a job. They were young, they were inexperienced, and the job was cash in hand. The restaurant had only just opened down the road, and they needed a kitchenhand right away. So, on Friday and Saturday afternoons, I would cycle down there and assist the chef with prepping…
Sometimes photos make the memories. And many of my “memories” from early childhood are held in faded instamatic photographs from a bygone era. In those days when I was very young, in those years that I would never be able to remember now, my parents were snapping our lives together and these snaps became treasured…
There’s something very comforting about chicken and bacon together. The flavours are well-known to complement each other, and so they do here. A classic pairing, only made better with the tang of some slow-roasted tomatoes, the bite of fresh rocket, and a subtle mustard dressing. Originally a non-pasta dish, I added some in to bulk…