"After June Clancy died suddenly in August 2007, her eldest daughter and food blogger Jules decided to pull together a collection of her Mum's recipes. With the help of her sisters she tested and photographed all the classic family dishes that she had grown up with.

The results were just too good to keep to herself. So Jules decided to self publish the book and share this one stop collection of simple, delicious family meals. Seeing this as an opportunity to celebrate a beautiful life and pass on the family recipes of an inspirational mum and cook."

Photo of June Clancy from "And the Love is Free" by Jules Clancy. Text taken from the media release.

The lovely Jules from Stone Soup recently had a book signing for her first book in Melbourne. I was lucky enough to be contact by Jules herself to come down and help celebrate.

We all meant at a quaint little bar in Melbourne, the kind you stumble across down an alley you wouldn't think there would be anything. Cabinet bar was the perfect setting for the book signing, with the sun bearing it's head for a few hours to bring Jules and some of her closest Melbourne friends together.

Not only does Jules take amazing photos, have delicious recipes and now, authors cookbooks. She also has degrees in both food science and winemaking, so she definitely knows what she is talking about. Currently she would probably have the dream job of any foodie; she is a chocolate biscuit designer for Arnotts.

I had a brief interview with Jules to find out what she was all about. Thanks again Jules for the invite and the interview. It was great to meet you, and get a signed copy for my collection!


ICS: You've been blogging for nearly 4 years now, studied food science and wine making, and take amazing photographs. What made you so interested in food to begin with?
Jules: I grew up in a family where food was a really special part of our lives. My Mum was an amazing cook. It wasn't until I went to boarding school that I realised just how lucky I was and just how important good food is. Ever since then I've always had food as a driving force in my life.

ICS: You are one of the first bloggers I've known to put out a book, you must be pretty excited. What made you want to make the transformation from blogger to cookbook author?
Jules: I'm super excited about the book too. Along with food I've always loved books in general and cookbooks in particular. It's always been a dream of mine to write a cookbook. When I inherited my Mum's recipe book it just seemed natural to want to celebrate her life with her beautiful simple country cooking and share her story.

It's been great fun bringing the book to life. I highly recommend giving self publishing a go.

ICS: What are your favorite ingredients to use in your cooking?
Jules: Great question Shellie. As long as ingredients are good quality and fresh I'm usually happy. Brussels sprouts, fennel and beetroot are a few of my favourite veg and I always feel that a meal isn't really a meal unless there's a salad involved. My latest fav is radicchio with a little fresh basil.

I always have lemons in the fridge - actually I feel a little unsettled if I run out of lemons. My boyfriend is Irish so I've been exploring potatoes more and more. I love good quality olive oil and have been experimenting with making my own chilli oil and have a bottle of 50year old balsamic vinegar that I treasure for very special occasions. I love most fish and seafood - even sardines out of a can. Having grown up on a sheep farm, I have a soft spot for lamb, especially lamb shanks.

ICS: Are you a savoury or sweet person?
Jules: It's funny because I've always considered myself a savoury person. Definitely more cheese than dessert.
But over the last couple of years working for Arnotts I've been exposed to more and more sweet things. Now I have a bit of a chocolate addiction that seems to be growing at an alarming rate and I've been seriously getting into baking cookies at home. But overall I think I'm still on the savoury side.

ICS: What would your last meal be?
Jules: Good food and wine shared with my nearest and dearest. The older I get, the more I realise that special meals are more about the people you are sharing with than the food itself. Although I do hope there would be a plentiful supply of Champagne.


To buy or see a sample of Jule's book and recipes, you can visit her website here.
And to check out what's been cooking in Jule's kitchen, be sure to check out her blog, Stone Soup.