This column was written back in the noughties when we lived in Bungendore. It was planned for the fourth issue of Regional Food Magazine – the truffle issue. Sadly, the magazine folded and it never happened. Also sadly, there are rarely truffles in our fridge these days.

“We have become empty nesters. The last daughter has fledged and flown away to Melbourne and life is suddenly different in all kinds of ways…” Written for Regional Food magazine, 2008.

A year or so ago, we bought a new stove. It was the only option when we switched from bottled gas to natural gas and our antique stove was deemed unfit for conversion. It was only as we began to use our glamorous new cooker that we realised the import of the old saying “caveat emptor” – let the buyer beware.

There are, what, 20,000 or so items in your average supermarket? Yet, each time you shop, maybe 40 different items end up in your trolley. Who buys all that other stuff?

When I was a child, Brussels sprouts were one of the few foods I wasn’t made to eat. And they’ve been voted Britain’s most hated vegetable. It turns out, food preferences (and phobias) start with the breast.

The Refrigerate After Opening column was published in the first edition of Regional Food magazine in winter 2005. It initiated a series of musings about the way we eat, drink and shop.