Holiday - woop woop!

First day of holiday! I finished work at lunchtime today for 2 weeks. Fantastic! I realised that its the first time I’ve had 2 weeks off since I went to China in 2007 (amazing trip by the way). This holiday is definitely well needed and well deserved.

So I spent the afternoon doing errands, such as dentist, dry cleaners etc. I also had a visit to our butcher in Newark. Sibleys is a fab butcher and supplies a number of local cafes and businesses in Newark. The meat is fantastic and they’re always so helpful and friendly. Their homemade sausages are fantastic, and I can never resist ordering. Chili and Parmesan this time!

Great episode of CDWM (For novices, Come Dine With Me – remember it, I watch it a lot!). Favourite recipe was a fish curry which all the contestants loved. Bought the CDWM cookbook last week, but this recipe isn’t in it. Shame. Will have to try and recreate from memory. Not sure how that will go.

For dinner, I was told that I could only use what’s in the house, and can’t pop out for ingredients. What a challenge (I probably go to the supermarket most days to get something). But going on holiday, we have to clear the fridge and try and make a dent in the freezer full of meat and fish.

So I chose scallops. And then went on the hunt of a recipe. This would be my new recipe for the week. Jamie Oliver (Return of the Naked Chef) served its purpose today, in conjunction with Marcus Wareing’s ‘How to cook the perfect.....’

See, I do this a lot. Mix and match recipes. Sometimes leads to genius, sometimes leads to disaster. Today was genius. I removed the clams from JO’s Linguine with Clams, Pancetta Chilli and White Wine and inserted Marcus’ perfectly cooked scallops. Fantastic. Big thumbs up from Harris.

By the way, for those of you that are thinking of the next cookbook, Marcus Wareing has created a gem. ‘How to cook the perfect....’ is so good for helping perfect elements of cooking. I’ve cooked his recipe for scones and they were fantastic. Definitely worth a buy.

Going Live!

Right now, I’m actually eating a slice of New York cheesecake I made this weekend – first time ever, yummy!

So I love food and cooking. Correction, I have an obsession with food and cooking. I’m not sure where this comes from.  When at home, my mother and I normally converse over an open cookbook. I’m normally thinking about the night’s dinner at 11am.

My cookery obsession manifests itself in a number of ways:

1)      Reading cookbooks daily

2)      Watching as many cookery programmes as I can

3)      Spending way too much on random ingredients for really obscure recipes that I will never recreate

4)      Constant investment in cooking utensils

5)      Eating........a lot!

I also work, quite long days actually. I work in London, but live in Newark, so my door-to-door commute is about 1.5 hours. Work’s important to me, but not always conducive with a cooking obsession. Cooking after a long day’s work is hard!

To motivate me, I made a number of new year’s resolutions. These haven’t been going so well in recent weeks.

1)      Bake something new each week

2)      Cook something new each week

3)      Cook something old with a new recipe each week

So I thought, why not add a blog to that list? Maybe this will motivate me? Whilst I’m not sure anyone will be interested in anything I have to say, who knows, maybe I’ll surprise myself.

My idea of blogging was confirmed last night with an amazing meal with at my friends - @mindthegapLDN made the best leek and parmesan risotto, with bacon on top! He is a friend that I often ridicule (obviously, its well deserved), but I tell you ladies, you can’t beat a man who makes a good risotto!

If they’ll let me, my friends will definitely feature in my blog. Many of my friends are amazing cooks. This works a treat for me – I wonder if that’s subconsciously the basis of our friendships.

Let the blogging commence!