Lisa Feinson

I have spent my life surrounded by very good cooks, and lovely, caring people. The two things, in my childmind, were very much linked and so I grew up with the knowledge that cooking for the people you love is just what you do. I'm sure that the part-Cypriot heritage I have fans the flames of that particular desire.

I started my blog http://www.cookwitch.blogspot.com/ as somewhere to put down all my food thoughts and cooking experiments in a place that would not bore my friends silly. It turns out they like it too. Why the name cookwitch? Well, my friend Helen said, years ago, that my cooking was magic, as it always made her feel better when she was sad or ill or unhappy, and so she bought me a beautiful book called The Kitchen Witch's Cookbook. When I first got online I wanted to use 'kitchenwitch' as my username, but AOL only allowed certain length usernames, so I had to shorten it to 'cookwitch'. It just stuck!

I am an avid devourer of cookery books. My bedside table is testament to that, although there are other books tucked in there too from hard sci-fi to myth and magic to detective novels and goodness knows what else.

Photography is a small hobby as well, and yes, I do get carried away taking photographs of pretty and luscious food.

I am large, round, friendly and full of smiles. A naturally untidy girl, who tries hard to be tidy. Quick tempered but easy to appease and fiercely loyal to my friends of which I have an overwhelming amount. I am grateful to them all for being simply fabulous.