Hi, Let me introduce myself, I’m Maggie, aka Mrs Calabash.

 

Over the years I’ve lived a varied and wonderful life. Nothing has been planned. At the age of 19, graduated from Sheffield Hallam University, UK, culinary department as a home economist and cookery demonstrator. I also earned my teachers certification.

 

This has lead to many unexpected adventures, from teaching cookery and house-craft in a psychiatric hospital, loved it, and helping the girls in borstal institution with their cooking skills to name two.

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Moving to rural Ireland, learning how to cook over an open fire with a Jack, getting the water from a roadside pump, and taking the kids to school in a donkey cart along with my faithful basset hound Gossip.

 

Returning to England, I started a mail order business selling herbs and spices, which expanded into my own bread mix, spice rubs etc. I bought a market stall and then added my own recipes for preserves, chutney’s and the like. This lead to craft and agricultural shows all over the north of England. I then became a partner, with a distributor, producing my own line of products called Cottage Delight which we sold to Harrods, Macie’s and The Queen. I was the research, creative and manufacturing side producing private labels for others.

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So off to France, intending to manufacture, but instead opened a Salon de Thé, which quickly became a full English licensed restaurant, Maggie May’s. I should say I didn’t speak the language but quickly learned.

 

My late husband wanted to return to Canada where he’d previously lived, so here we arrived with our 15 year old, a dog and two cats. Life was hard in Canada as a new immigrant, so I cleaned houses, and took whatever work was available. again started manufacturing on a small scale, and was lucky some customers here and in the states remembered me, so life was good. 

 

Fate had another thing in store, unfortunately, Norman developed terminal cancer, so I had to give up manufacturing, but this led me to working with the cooking schools for a large grocery chain, which I became a cooking school coordinator for many years.

 

Then I met Derek. He’d produced a very successful T.V cookery series, and the rest history, so instead of vegetating in our 70’s we’re off on a new thrilling, nail-biting adventure.