Ideas and Breakfast

So, after some deliberating it looks like I have a project! I juggled for a while the idea of a 'Julie & Julia' type of affair where I cook my way through a certain book but while this would satisfy my yearning for learning, it wouldn't necessarily allow me to be creative.

My inspiration came from a book I have called 'My Favourite Ingredients' by Skye Gyngell, which is a beautiful book filled with stunning photos by Jason Lowe. I am going to get together a list of ingredients and push myself to find new ways to use them. This could be by trying to come up with a recipe myself, or taking the framework of a classic and making it my own. I am also going to start making more effort with the photography (this is a general thing as well, I have been neglecting it recently!)

The next step then is the list. I shall have a think about this over the weekend and post again, after this I plan to do a recipe a week, maybe two. I have just started (another) new job so I have to see how my hours pan out.

But what is this about breakfast? This is simply the fact that I could eat breakfast any time of the day, (I'm all about brinner) and I made a pretty epic one for my boyfriend's 30th last weekend. I was particularly chuffed as I made croissants and so wanted to stick up a couple of pics - homemade, it turns out, is a winner :-) Yay.

PS. As I write this I am listening to Agnes Obel, she's lovely, check her out.

Lazy Bones

I recently read this post http://foodloveswriting.com/2012/06/08/kale-and-eggs-or-why-you-should-start-a-food-blog/ and it got me thinking. What the hell have I been doing with myself? 


I haven't blogged for a while, I have been out of work and you would think that with all the free time I would have been cooking instead of feeling sorry for myself and watching Dr Who on iPlayer (I have been doing job applications as well, promise). But something has been holding me back - I have hardly been cooking, and definitely haven't been blogging.


There are a lot of food bloggers out there, and a lot of amazing amateur cooks and currently I am feeling less than confident and more than a little uninspired, especially as money is tight. AND I am trying to lose weight so the 'I fancy baking' whims are being ignored otherwise Ricky and I end up eating 3/4 of cheesecake by ourselves. Something is definitely off, the blog currently just feels too random, like it is missing the point - why did I start it and who is it for?


Well, it was meant to be a release as I said in my first post. Secretly however, I wanted it to be popular - I am incredibly impatient and want anything I try to be pretty much immediately successful, or I think I have failed. My neurotic side tells me I'm not good enough, that there are too many people better than me. My logical side knows these things take time and that I am still learning.


So when I read the above post, I felt better. It made me realise that writing this blog for me, as I set out to do, is how it should be and that I needn't feel intimidated. This is easier said than done, granted, but this post is me starting again, looking at it from a different angle. I can't afford cookery classes, or to drop everything and live in Paris learning how to make the perfect croissant, it just isn't realistic. But I do have great inspiration in my parents, a host of food loving friends (also known as willing taste testers), and access to some of the best food in the world on my doorstep. I love food, I love cooking. I think I'm good at it. I would like to write about it, because I would like to expand my repertoire and learn. And like this post, make some space in my head by getting rid of some thoughts :-) That will be enough.


So, the plan is to turn this into more of a project - I find a bit of focus helps me get on with things and it will push me to learn as well. What the project is, well I'm not sure yet but I shall make a decision soon. If it gets read and people like it, bonus.