It's Raining Plums

Xanthe Clay travelled in Asia, Arabia and South America before working as a bookseller specialising in cookery books. The urge to put her reading into practice grew, and she completed a professional cookery course at Leith's School of Food and Wine before setting up and running the kitchen in Bath's fashionable Raincheck Bar. She continued to work there part time, and in an advisory capacity, whilst also running her freelance catering business. In June 1999 she began a popular weekly column in the Daily Telegraph, testing and commenting on readers' recipes. This led to the publication of "It's Raining Plums", a collection of readers' recipes edited and introduced by Xanthe. She continues to write the columns, and some larger pieces for the Telegraph, as well as putting on regular cookery demonstrations.