The recipe that started it all

The first draft of A Recipe for Love was written on the back of a grocery list. My oldest wanted to make a fruit salad 'all by herself,' which meant I spent forty minutes not helping and one hour cleaning.

Somewhere in the middle of that mess I realised the story wasn't about food at all. It was about what happens when you let a child lead — the confidence that grows, the patience it costs you, the love that shows up in both.

I wrote the whole spread that night. It barely changed in editing. Some stories arrive already knowing what they are.