I tend to take a lot of photos, often on my iPhone (when not using my collection of old school film cameras), and especially when I’m visiting somewhere new. When I’m working on a book, the photo count quickly escalates to a whole new level. For both my books (“The Little Paris Kitchen” and “My Little French Kitchen”), I’ve been fortunate to work with photographer David Loftus. Along with our art director John Hamilton, my culinary assistant Frankie, and prop stylist Nathalie, we all worked together to make the shoots come to life. Then out of the 5000 lovely photos that David shot for my new book, I worked with John and the team to whittle this down to a couple of hundred to fit into the layout. Not an easy feat.

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Another week, another Instagram round-up. Things have definitely taken a festive turn! Here are some of my snapshots from this week.

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My new book “My Little French Kitchen” has nearly been on shelves for two months. Time flies. I’d love to hear which recipes you’ve been trying! Any favourites? I’ve got a signed copy of the book to giveaway….but I want to see what you’ve been whipping up in your own kitchen first.

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Now that December has arrived, it’s time to turn to comfort food. Try my slow-cooked one-pot warmer in my latest Evening Standard Column, inspired by my trip to the US earlier this year. Here’s my Boston Baked Beans with Ham Hock recipe.

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* Intriguing infographics explaining ageing.

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As the month draws to a close, I’m finishing it on a sweet note: check out this magnificent raspberry soufflé. Catch more of my Instagram snapshots here. And to those of you who celebrated it this week – Happy Thanksgiving

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I’ve always been interested in creatives who combine art with music, and artist and musician Andrew Kinsman is the perfect example. I was lucky to be a part of Andrew’s ‘Paris Bubble’ project. Check out this video of Andrew’s painting of me (in my little Paris kitchen). Love the detail! Andrew shared with me his thought process behind the project: “The idea of the ‘Bubbles’ has been developing over the last five years. In short the compositions hopefully allow the viewer to see a snapshot of the sitter’s life during one measured breath. The subject is very often in profile encouraging the eye to gaze through the transparency of the bubble into the background opening into a fragment of the sitter’s life. This simple concept is the variant throughout my work.”

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* Next best to going on holiday with this grey wet weather: Ottolenghi’s Mediterranean Island Feast (via @ottolenghi).

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This week has been a mix of recipe testing (especially for those with a sweet tooth), and different events in London – including a visit to recently reopened Tate Britain. You can follow my adventures via my Instagram account, I’m @rachelkhooks.

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Could there be a more fitting start to a Provencal excursion, than the blustering Mistral reaching 120km per hour whilst paired with a blindingly blue sky?

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