Where do you live?

I live in North London, about 10 minutes from the Centre.

Every single recipe has been conceived and cooked in my kitchen.

My kids and my friend’s kids are my guinea pigs (it’s a wonder they still eat my food and that my children have any friends - one of my kids told me that one of their friends said “Can you only please invite me over when your Mum has finished experimenting?”)

Unlike guinea pigs however they can talk and the feedback I get helps me adapt and modify each recipe so I know it absolutely hits the spot before it makes it into any one of my books.

So, it is OK to experiment and it is OK to get it slightly wrong; just so long as you don’t give up.

Do you have a favourite motto or saying?

It is a combination (or all) of:

Be yourself

Enjoy life

Don’t have fear

...because we only have one life, so enjoy it as there is no dress rehearsal.

What shops are in your secret address book?

A great deli near my home called Panzers - great foodie treats from around the world.

Party Party in Kilburn the best selection of cookie cutters and cake decoration equipment in London but you have to know about the secret staircase that leads upstairs...

New York Cake Supplies 56 West 22nd Street New York a veritable wonderland of every conceivable shape of cookie cutter and bakeware you could hope to find.

Abercrombie and Fitch 5th Avenue New York. More like a nightclub than a shop. It’s so dark and the music is so loud you actually only know what you have bought when you bring it home! My kids love the clothes and so do I...

The Bread Shop in St John’s Wood - seriously good bread; I’m addicted to their pumpkinseed rolls for breakfast.

Books For Cooks in Notting Hill - has one of the best collections of cookbooks and they have wonderful cookery workshops every week.

Absolute Flowers in Maida Vale for the most wonderful flowers.

Rouleaux in Marylebone High Street for the most amazing selection of ribbons, tassels and accessories - I like giving home baked biscuits wrapped in plastic tied up with a big bow.

Cath Kidston love their fabrics, trays, tableware, aprons etc. and use them often in my photo shoots.

Mac Kenzie – Childs 824 Madison Avenue 69th Street New York amazing ceramics, enamelware and accessories.

The Amercian Girl Place in New York and Chicago - a massive department store which sells dolls that look like the girls that own them and a huge selection of marching outfits for you and your doll. There’s a dolls hospital and hairdresser and on the top floor there is a restaurant where you can take your doll for lunch or tea with doll sized chairs and china...

What’s your favourite holiday destination?

Anywhere to ski...

I’m passionate about skiing. I love being in the mountains. The great thing about skiing is that I can spend all the day with my children, although I now struggle to keep up! I try and go every year, whether it’s in France or further a field. With my books selling so well now in America I have even more excuses to go over there and take a few days up in the clean mountain air.

What is your ideal night out ?

A good play and then supper with friends. I saw The History Boys last year - it was one of the best plays I have ever seen. I love eating out with friends. Although I try and eat quite healthily I am a terrible example of how to eat - lots of it and really quickly, I love my food! Boringly, since writing my books I seem to be asked over to people’s homes less and less!

What’s your favourite restaurant?

I really enjoy the food at a place called E&O in Notting Hill, London. The menu is Pan Asian - my favourite dishes are the Edamame, Chilli Salt Squid, Sashimi and Pad Thai Noodles. The place has a real buzz and although I hardly drink at all I’m quite partial to their Lychee Martinis. I have been known to drink 3 in one evening! Hic...

In New York I love Buddakan 75 9th Avenue btw 15th and 16th. A two storey Chinese mansion in the Meatpacking district serving fantastic Pan Asian food. There’s an amazing room with chandeliers with a long communal table and each time you go you can eat in a different room for a new dining experience.

What was the last memorable meal you had?

Eating fish and chips straight out of the paper with loads of vinegar whilst walking along the beach in Brighton.

Naughty but nice - what foods can’t you resist?

That’s easy chocolate... Peppermint Aero’s and M&S Chocolate Cherry liquors. There’s also a dessert I love it originally comes from a restaurant in London called the Caprice, its semi frozen berries with a hot white chocolate sauce. It looks like something the cat threw up but it tastes divine.

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