When I was a child, my parents were keen subscribers to a magazine called Lincolnshire Life. It was a way of keeping in touch with our home county as we trundled around different UK locations in connection with my dad’s work.

To be honest, as a nipper, I was more interested in reading about talking lions and hobbits than the minutiae of county life but as an adult I can see the attraction.

A year ago I swapped my subscription to Vogue for a subscription to Suffolk Magazine, something which will no doubt amuse those friends who knew me before my working uniform was a pair of jeans, a woolly jumper and a pinny. (The Wellington boots are optional, depending on whether I have to visit the vegetable garden. Darlings, the stilettos just kept sinking in the mud.)

So I was delighted when the lovely people at Suffolk Magazine asked me to contribute a monthly recipe page, which they’ve called Mrs Portly’s Suffolk Pantry.

You can see my first offering here, along with a picture of me in my FBI pinny taken by the talented Jamillah Knowles, the only person who’s ever been able to take my photo without me scowling horribly and looking as though I eat small children for breakfast.

Hopefully the article will be the start of a long and fruitful association.  February’s issue will feature a recipe for Chinese New Year. Oh, and I’ll be debuting on Radio Suffolk next week, when the brave Lesley Dolphin has volunteered to have me as a sofa guest. Watch this space …