Voyage Around My AGA

Steve returns from holiday to find Charlotte in the midst of lambing. Ed Smith's new cookbook Good Eggs is a hit with Steve, and this episodes sauce is Thai Satay Sauce. And Charlotte has three house chickens...!

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In this episode, Steve and Charlotte are once again joined by cocktail connoisseur, Stephen Dunk, exploring rum based cocktails. Charlotte is awaiting her new lambs due at Easter and Steve continues his sauce journey with Madeira Jus.

Whilst Steve has been discovering the Mercury Prize winning band The Last Dinner Party and enjoying Bee Wilson's fantastic cookbook, The Secret of Cooking, Charlotte is still adjusting to her new nose!!!!

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We're back! After an extended break, Steve & Charlotte are back with more tales of country living as they continue a Voyage Around My AGA. Find out what's kept them away and discover the joy of Russell T. Davies return to Doctor Who, Sunset Boulevard and Barbra Streisand's autobiography!

Recovering from yet another bout of Covid, Steve coughs and splutters his way through the episode and is planning for a summer garden party. Meanwhile, Charlotte has a new piece of kitchen equipment and is exploring her new air-fryer, whilst still finding time to watch all five seasons of Yellowstone! Steve has been binge watching season two of both Heartstopper and The Bear and raves about them both.

In a packed episode, Charlotte and Steve discuss the Barbie movie and the joys, or not, of eating in Pizza Hut! Steve has been on a BBQ course and is extolling the virtues of tray bakes, whilst Charlotte has discovered the US TV hit Yellowstone. And the pair are joined by cocktail guru Stephen Dunk for a perfect summery drink.

Charlotte and Steve are back from their travels! Whilst Steve was in Las Vegas on business, followed by a holiday in Mykonos and partying in the Lake District, Charlotte was sunning herself in Paxos and swimming in Guernsey! And has an interesting view on dry robes!

Plus, the pair discuss the new TV drama The Sixth Commandment and the west-end play A Little Life.

This episode Charlotte has an update on lambing and is having to deal with maggots. Yuk! Steve has been entertaining guests, but unfortunately his food was not instagram ready! Plus the pair discuss their favourite programmes; the finale of Succession, Great British Sewing Bee and Poker Face. And Steve admits to his guilty pleasure - The Fast and Furious movie franchise!

Steve chats about his short break to Scotland, taking in Ayrshire and Dumfries and Galloway, including a visit to Dumfries House and a stay at Dumfries Lodge. Both Charlotte and Steve enjoyed the Coronation and Eurovision, but were a little underwhelmed by the entries themselves (in the song contest, not the Coronation!). And Stephen Dunk, cocktail guru is back, to highlight the whisky (whiskey?) based Old Fashioned and Manhattan.

It's our 60th episode! Steve has returned from Jersey and now getting ready for a short trip to Scotland, whilst Charlotte is still awaiting the arrival of her final lamb! The pair have discovered the fabulous Pipers Farm Sustainable Meat Cookbook and discuss the seasonal recipes.

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We didn't expect quite the upset caused by our previous episode where Charlotte had sad news with her lambing! This week we have an update on the lambs and discuss the difference between lamb and hoggett. Whilst Charlotte has been riveted by the Agatha Christie drama, Why Didn't They Ask Evans?, Steve is obsessing over Succession.

And in our look back at our favourite cookbooks we've reviewed, Sabrina Ghayour's Persiana Everyday and Torie True's Chilli & Mint are standouts.

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This episode, Steve and Charlotte are joined by cocktail guru Stephen Dunk, who manages to expand his regular slot!! Charlotte has been lambing and has an update on her rare-breed Portland flock, whilst Steve and his family have been battling with the NHS. And our cocktail of the month is the absolute classic Martini.

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Welcome back to Voyage Around my AGA. In the first of a new season, find out why Steve and Charlotte have been away for so long and discover what they've been up to! Don't forget to follow us on Facebook and Instagram!

He's back!  In this episode, we're joined by our cocktail expert, Stephen Dunk, who raves about the classic Negroni.  Meanwhile, Steve's been enjoying Jersey and Charlotte's been celebrating graduations!  We also go on a culinary journey through the spice trail, with Eleanor Ford's fantastic new cookbook, The Nutmeg Trail.

Well, its all kicking off with the British Parliament as we record!  Charlotte's been enjoying the new BBC Dolly Alderton series Everything I Know About Love, whilst Steve is loving the Netflix series Heartstopper.

Dominique Woolf, winner of Channel 4's Great Cookbook Challenge, has just published her first cookbook, Dominique's Kitchen: Easy Everyday Asian Inspired Food and Charlotte loves it!  And out in the garden, its time to plant bi-annuals.

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This episode, Steve enthuses about his long weekend on the Scilly Isles, whilst Charlotte has just returned from Gran Canaria.  She also has recently visited the fabulous gardens at The Newt in Somerset and been celebrating her mother Toto's 80th birthday at The Garlic Farm on the Isle of Wight.

And inspired by Toto's experience withher cooking day with Torie True at Chilli & Mint, the pair independently attended cooking classes and report back!

We're back!  After our extended break, welcome to Season 5 of Voyage Around My AGA!  Whilst Charlotte has been busy lambing and building her flock, Steve has been travelling to trade shows and had forgotten how exhausting they can be.  A few weeks ago, Steve hosted a party for visiting friends at which Charlotte brought a fantastic dip and  shares the recipe.  Trust us, its a crowd pleaser!

This episode, Steve has been getting some retail therapy at the new IKEA concept store - apparently they are much smaller but he thinks it depends on what you class as large!  Charlotte meanwhile is tiptoeing through tulips, as the first crop of the year are delivered to new customers.

Steve highlights the fantastic Lucy Young, the accomplished assistant of Mary Berry,  but also a well-regarded cookbook author in her own right, including Secrets from a Country Kitchen, AGA Easy and the brilliant Secrets of AGA Cakes and Secrets of AGA Puddings.

And as the pair take a short break for Easter they bid farewell to Great British Menu!

Thank you so much for listening, we'll be back in a couple of weeks!

Charlotte's in the midst of germinating and sowing seeds and talks through her current crop in this episodes Charlotte's Corner.  Plus she's been delving into her cookbook archive to take a fresh look at Tamasin's Day-Lewis' classic "Tamasin's Kitchen Bible". Which leads to quite a debate about the pronunciation of Tamasin!  We also look at those small ingredients that can help elevate a dish, such as spring onions, chives, lemon and white miso.

Our 50th episode, who would have thought it!  This episode, we welcome back Stephen Dunk with a new cocktail of the month, Bloody Mary and feature some of your "blast from the past" recipes.  Steve visited the renowned bookshop Books for Cooks in London and raves about this haven for cookbook enthusiasts.  Charlotte has been tending her tulips and weeding ready for further planting.

Plus we witter on about the new series of Masterchef and Great British Menu.

Here's to the next 50 episodes!

This episode, Charlotte has an extraordinary way of assessing the health of your soil, plus recommends one of her go-to cut flower books Floret Farm's Cut Flower Garden by Erin Benzakein.  We are also celebrating pulses; beans, chickpeas and lentils - cost effective, low-fat source of protein, fibre, vitamins and minerals.

We're also asking for our listeners "recipes forgotten and reinstated"!  We explain all in the episode, so take a listen and then email your recipes to us at voyagearoundmyaga@gmail.com

In a packed episode, Steve and Charlotte open the covers of Marcus Wareing's recent book Marcus' Kitchen and have been watching his new TV series Tales From a Kitchen Garden.  Steve may have missed the point of the programme and needs to just relax and enjoy, but thinks his book is well worth a look.

Meanwhile, Charlotte is highlighting the bitter radicchio, together with cooking recommendations, whilst Steve is loving Stanley Tucci's new food programme, Searching for Italy.  They also want to share an outstanding recipe Charlotte found from Waitrose Magazine (December 19); Iranian-style green lentil, chicken and herb soup.  Trust us, its so much more than a soup.

All that and you can find out who featured in a corn flakes commercial as a child!

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Thanks for listening!

A slightly different episode this week, as we are joined by a very special guest, Toto Wordsworth, who just happens to be Charlotte's mother!  Toto recently attended a cookery class with the lovely Torie True from Chilli & Mint (www.chilliandmint.com), who also takes her students on a food shopping experience near her home in Tooting, London.  Toto has joined us to tell us all about the experience.

Torie's first cookbook, also called Chilli & Mint is available from all good booksellers, and we highly recommend it.

Don't forget, you can follow us on instagram and facebook at Voyage Around My AGA, and if you enjoy our podcast, please leave a comment or rate us if your platform allows.

Having survived howling gales, Steve and Charlotte are once again huddled around the AGA, comforting Steve's dog Archie who is recovering from his "operation"!  

Nigel Slater's A Cooks Book is our weighty tome this week, with some quite some discussion on its merits.  We also try to understand all the different grades of chicken and chat about our favourite cuts, recipes and tips for the versatile bird.

Plus Charlotte has some ideas for starting your own cutting garden.

Sound the trumpets! A brand new monthly feature starts this episode, Cocktail of the Month, brought to you by our special guest and cocktail enthusiast, Stephen Dunk!  Whilst he's been shaking up cocktails, Steve has been visiting the Francis Bacon exhibition at the Royal Academy and realising he's getting a little out of step with London living.  Which sets him off on a bit of a rant, so prepare yourselves!

Meanwhile, Charlotte has been getting back into hosting dinner parties and the pair discuss Mary Berry & Lucy Young's book Cooks Up a Feast, specifically aimed at preparing food for larger numbers.

And Charlotte has two new chickens!  It's all go in the country....

This episode, Charlotte is throwing around Valentine present suggestions whilst highlighting the very fragrant (and medicinal) Witch Hazel tree.  There's a generation (well, Steve) that thought it came in a bottle!

Our seasonal ingredient is Kale with some great serving suggestions and an easy but tasty brunch or supper recipe.  Rick Stein's recent book Rick Stein at Home comes under Steve's beady eye, who loves the wide range of cuisines featured.  

All that, plus a few barks from Archie and the saga of Steve's parents house move!

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With Charlotte's chickens starting to lay again, we crack open different varieties of eggs and discuss the ultimate convenience food!  Steve meanwhile is eagerly anticipating the new series of BBC Two's Great British Menu and highlights a fantastic online resource GreatBritishChefs.com.

The beautiful and fragrant Mimosa tree is featured in Charlotte's Corner and the pair are eager to support local cinemas, as Steve has just had his first visit to the community run Rex Cinema in Wareham (therex.co.uk) to see Kenneth Branagh's outstanding movie Belfast.

Wondered about Wordle?  Charlotte explains it all to a very confused Steve!  

We celebrate Chinese New Year on 01 February by focusing our attention on the wonderful cookbook Every Grain of Rice: Simple Chinese Home Cooking by Fuchsia Dunlop.  Steve is keen to delve into the fifth taste, Umami whilst Charlotte has a fascinating way of nurturing amaryllis.

Its our birthday!  This week marks one year since the first episode of Voyage Around My AGA!  So what better way to celebrate than to follow up on our first ever discussion.... marmalade!

With a new growing season upon us, Charlotte offers some great advice for getting prepared and we dig a little deeper into the humble potato, with an interesting way to tell whether it's waxy or floury.  Could the celebrations get any wilder?!

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For the first episode of 2022, Steve and Charlotte are catching up on their respective Christmas and New Year.  Whilst Steve had a great holiday, returning home came with a few issues!  Charlotte's brined Turkey was a huge success and she's learning to trust her own judgement.

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In our final episode of 2021, Steve is urging everyone to see Steven Spielberg's new version of West Side Story and manages a very neat segue to National Theatre's At Home streaming service and Lin-Manuel Miranda's film directoral debut, Tick Tick Boom!

Meanwhile, Charlotte has been holding her Christmas wreath classes, to great success.  Steve even attended one and found his creative flair!  

Thank you for listening to our podcast this year and have a wonderful Christmas and New Year.  We'll be back in January 22!

In the meantime, you can catch up on all previous episodes on your favourite podcast platform and follow us on Facebook and instagram at Voyage Around My AGA.

This episode, we discuss our Christmas traditions and what to do with all those leftovers from the festive season.  Charlotte has been researching cranberries and discovered the unusual way they are harvested.  And Steve is feeling his (real) age!

Steve is back from Hungary and raving about Budapest, a wonderful city.  Fabulous restaurants, food markets, architecture and museums, what's not to like!  Meanwhile Charlotte is in charge of social media for a week for the british flower membership assocation,  Flowers from the Farm.

Following on from our last episode, where we discussed our favourite Christmas cookbooks and recipes, this time we focus on Christmas desserts.  And Steve discovers Charlotte's absolute dislike of raisins!

Don't forget to follow us on facebook and instagram at Voyage Around My AGA.  You can find out more about Flowers from the Farm at www.flowersfromthefarm.co.uk and follow them on instagram.

Having both been in London for a few days, Charlotte and Steve are full of the Christmas spirit!  They discuss the huge growth of advent calendars and some of the many options now available.  Thoughts are also turning to planning for big family events and they look at what to think about, menu planning and what to cook in advance plus what are their go-to Christmas recipe books.

And with Adele releasing a new album, the pair discuss her Audience With TV special and Steve raves about 30.

This episode, we give a very helpful round-up of new recipe and food related books to give you some Christmas gift ideas.

Charlotte offers some great ideas for cabbages, including a very interesting use for Savoy cabbages and we discuss the british staple, bangers and mash plus our favourite sausage recipes.

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In a poetic episode, Charlotte and Steve are catching up on the autumn reality shows ranging from cooking to word-working to portrait painting.

The BBC Good Food brand including the 101 Guides, website and magazine come under the spotlight as does quince, just coming into season now.

Charlotte has been planting over 800 tulips and gives an update on her recent garden activity and the pair go back to their childhoods with Edward Lear's The Owl and the Pussycat.

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With Steve sporting a black eye and Charlotte full of cold, the pair have had to deal with power outages, road closures and technical issues to put this episode together!

The first book from Ottolenghi Test Kitchen, Shelf Love, is our cookbook of the week and we discuss mushrooms - apparently there are over 15,000 varieties in the UK alone.

Charlotte talks about where she gets her plant inspiration and seeds from including well-known growers such as Sarah Raven, Chiltern Seeds, David Austin Roses and Halls of Heddon, alongside smaller specialist sweet pea growers including Somerset Sweet Peas, Roger Parsons and Swan Cottage Flowers.

This episode, Steve and Charlotte are joined by Sasha Dorey, the Truffle Huntress.  In a wide ranging interview, Sasha gives a fascinating insight into the world of the elusive delicacy, how she hunts for truffles with her dogs and her favourite ways to use truffles.

Steve has become obsessed with the award-winning hit US TV show, Succession and the pair discuss the complexities of some of the Great British Bake Off technical challenges.  Filo pastry, anyone?!

For more information about Sasha, follow her on instagram @thetrufflehuntress

With Halloween fast approaching, Charlotte is on a mission to convince Steve of the culinary delights of pumpkins and squash.  She is also encouraging a reevaluation of the much maligned chrysanthemum.

Plus, using Dorling Kindersley's The Preserving Book as our guide, we look at different ways of preserving fruit and veg.

And Steve is full of love and joy having recently attended a very special wedding.

As always, thanks for listening and don't forget to follow us on Facebook and Instagram at Voyage Around My AGA.

This episode we're joined by Sophie Weld-Davies, owner of the successful artisan home fragrance company Made at Milldown, to discuss her business and the secrets of candles.

We also explore food-related books including Scoff by Pen Vegler, The Land Where the Lemons Grow by Helena Attlee and Dan Saladino's Eating to Extinction: The World's Rarest Foods and Why We Need to Save Them.

Plus, Steve has returned from his campervan holiday with Archie - was it a success?

You can find more details about Made at Milldown on instagram, etsy and at www.madeatmilldown.com

Charlotte's feeling very relaxed after her holiday and considering becoming an HGV driver to help with the global flower shortage - and petrol deliveries! However, Steve's mind is on his first ever campervan holiday with Archie.

The Fortnum & Mason Food & Drink award-winning debut cookbook The Pie Room by Calum Franklin is under review, together with another long-winded story!

And someone is just a little over-excited at Russell T. Davies' return to Doctor Who......

We're back!  In the first episode of Season 3, Charlotte has discovered libraries(!) and getting ready to head off to sunnier climes!  Steve meanwhile has just returned from Scotland and is joined by a special guest, Stephen Dunk, to talk about the North Coast 500 route.

The delightful Dahlia is taking root in Charlotte's Corner whilst Steve has been delving between the covers of a whole range of restaurant cookbooks.

Don't forget to subscribe to Voyage Around My AGA on your favourite podcast platform.

Voyage Around My AGA returns in two weeks for our third season, with fantastic guests,  cookbook reviews, our usual banter and much, much more.  Subscribe on your favourite podcast platform so that you don't miss an episode.  All episodes from season one and two are available now.

Much excitement in the Voyage Around My AGA kitchen, as the autumn edition of the "catalogue of dreams" arrives..... We also take a closer look at the cookbook voted "the most useful of all time", Simon Hopkinson's Roast Chicken and Other Stories.  Versatile aubergine (or eggplant) is our seasonal ingredient - apparently, it's technically a fruit.  Charlotte orbits around Cosmos and we have a very short, but very useful tip!  All that and Steve rambles on about Doctor Who.

We'll be taking a short summer break, but will be back early September, so don't forget to subscribe and follow us on instagram and facebook at Voyage Around my AGA.  Email any suggestions for our next season to voyagearoundmyaga@gmail.com.

As ever, thanks for listening and have a great summer.

We're celebrating summer in this episode by revisiting Delia Smith's classic Summer Collection and as the runner bean comes into season, looking at how to get the best out of this summer veg.

Steve has some recommendations on essential kitchen knives and Charlotte explains how versatile mint can be.

We’ve been hit by COVID this episode, with Charlotte isolating due to a positive result, and Steve isolating due to track and trace! 

But the podcast must go on, so despite some technical issues, this week, we rave about Mark Diacono’s new book, Herb: A Cook's Companion.  Charlotte's seasonal ingredient is blueberries, which always reminds Steve of Violet in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory!

We have an avocado themed tip and in Charlotte's Corner, she highlights the edible Nasturtium. 

Apologies for some of the technical and sound issues, we'll be back to our usual professional slick production values next week (!).  Follow us on facebook and instagram at Voyage Around My AGA, and email us at voyagearoundmyaga@gmail.com

Thanks for listening.

Whilst Steve has been channelling his inner Kylie in Jersey, Charlotte has been in the big smoke exploring Constance Spry, and you can hear all about their adventures in this episode!

We also celebrate the influential Madhur Jaffrey CBE - actress, travel and food writer, who brought Indian cuisine to the western hemisphere, including through her 1982 TV series and book Madhur Jaffrey's Indian Cookery.  We stretch the boundaries of seasonal ingredient a little by focusing our attention on fragrance, particularly artisan Somerset based fragrance company, Ffern and New York based Bond No 9.

Charlotte is fascinated by the straight sided stem of Verbena Bonariensis and has a tip-of-the-week that she thinks everyone knows about, but is a welcome revelation for Steve!

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It's felt almost normal again here at Voyage Around My AGA - a trip to the cinema to see the joyous musical film In The Heights and a fun barbeque with friends!  But we've still had time to riffle through our bookshelves and this episode we're going back-to-basics with the classic Complete AGA Cookbook by Mary Berry and Lucy Young plus offering our tips on AGA essential equipment.

Charlotte is looking at different recipes for her home-grown courgettes and  bringing the simple beauty and fragrance of the lovely Sweet Pea into focus.

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We're going down under this episode as Charlotte celebrates the best-selling Australian cookery writer, Donna Hay, and her beautiful book "Modern Baking - cakes, cookies and everything in between".  Steve explores british cheese, highlighting Rollright from King Stone Dairy, Winslade from Hampshire Cheese Company and the Isle of White Cheese Company's Blue.  The pair have some time-saving freezer tips and Charlotte has an interesting story to tell about Foxgloves.

Find us on instagram and facebook at Voyage Around My AGA, and email us at voyagearoundmyaga@gmail.com.

We're celebrating our coming-of-age episode by heading outside and firing up the barbeque to experience some of the mouth-watering recipes from Honey & Co's new cookbook Chasing Smoke: Cooking Over Fire Around the Levant.

Charlotte explains more about British Flower Week, celebrates the success of her artisan pop-up event whilst also giving tips on flavoured oils, vinegars and sugars and Steve has been dancing in the streets having seen the joyful and uplifting new musical film, In The Heights.

Plus Archie is looking very smart and much cooler having had another visit to the groomers!