My passion for cooking is well-known and I am the world’s worst food snob. Not in the sense of swanky restaurants (which on the whole I can’t abide) but in the sense of liking my meals to be wholesome and free from chemicals.

Fresh organic ingredients, simple recipes and time to let the flavours develop properly are the things that make a great meal in my view.

Many of my friends think I’m bonkers to spend an hour each evening cooking when I have so little free time and so many pressures on that time. It doesn’t matter to me though because it is what I love to do.

Over the years, much has changed. Years ago, I’d queue up in the Queen of Hearts bakers in Headington for their wonderful oatmeal bread and buy enough to last me a week. Years ago, I’d seek out the best pasta money could buy.

These days I never buy bread – we make it all in our wonderful Panasonic, including ciabatta, pitta and pizza dough. I never buy pasta – I make it all by hand from flour and eggs. I have learned the secrets of the food as I’ve mastered these things. Pasta is dead simple to make and tastes completely wonderful when you do. The knack is in the rolling. Using a rolling pin, I’ve never been able to get my sheets of pasta thin enough (maybe because I’m so cack-handed) so a few years ago, DM bought me a pasta rolling machine. It’s been used, week-in, week-out ever since.

A couple of months ago, I got heavy-handed (as is often my way) and failed to notice that I’d screwed the clamp up so tightly to the work surface that I actually broke the clamp’s handle. From then on, using it has been a huge chore, trying to keep it on the surface, while I wound the pasta through the rollers first of all, then through the cutting blades.

So, my little sister bought me a new one for my birthday (and so did DM – I’m hoping his will be converted into a Le Crueset omelette pan tomorrow) and it arrived today. It gets to be my photo today before it gets completely covered in gloop and I will also photograph it in action one day soon too.

I’m feeling full of joy about food at the moment because I’ve just finished a divine book called ‘The Food of Love’ by Anthony Capella – it is exquisite. Go buy it!!!

Last year, I was watching Archie watching sheep and the year before I was being serenaded by my love.....