A Leisurely Breakfast

You hear a lot in this day and age about families having dinner in front of the tv or not sitting down together at all for their meals.  Now there could be lots of reasons for this, the main and most common being busy lives and different schedules, but it doesn't have to be like that every day of the week.  For us it is breakfast times.  I am a commuter and to avoid the traffic I leave the house without breakfast and eat when I get to work.  This often makes breakfast a tiresome and perfunctory event for me in my day and just a necessary task rather than something to enjoy.  I find myself longing to have cereal instead of grabbing an unhealthy muffin or a bland yoghurt, but I make up for it at the weekends.

I am very much a sweet person and very rarely can I face an English Breakfast in the morning but I always have room for something sweet.  In the December Good Food magazine there was a recipe for apple and cranberry pancakes that I never got the chance to try at the time but I recently had a go and wow they were delicious.  I thought they may be stodgy but I didn't find that, they were light and a real treat, great if you are treating yourself or guests and well worth the effort.

Ingredients

300g/11oz self-raising flour

1tsp bicarbonate of soda                                 

2 medium eggs

284ml carton buttermilk

4 tblsp milk

85g/3oz melted butter

2 small-medium eating apples, peeled, cored and grated

50g/2oz dried cranberries

A little more butter/oil for frying

Method

·         This recipe serves 4-5 and makes about 15 pancakes.

·         Put all dry ingredients in a bowl, make a well in the centre and add the eggs.

·         Gradually whisk in the eggs followed by the buttermilk, milk and melted butter, then stir in the apple and cranberries.

·         Melt a little butter or drizzle a little oil in a frying pan and when hot, add small ladles of the mixture, you can fit about 3 to a pan. 

·         Leave to cook for 3 mins on one side then flip and cook for a further 2.  Put the cooked pancakes into the oven to keep warm on about 50-100 degrees centigrade whilst you make the rest.

Serve

The actual recipe says to serve with cinnamon butter and maple syrup but I served mine with a fruit compote and plain yoghurt with a drizzle of honey. If you want the cinnamon butter recipe, just click on the "apple and cranberry pancakes" link above.

To make the compote I took a couple of handfuls of frozen raspberries (or any fresh fruit would be fine) and placed in a pan to boil with about a table spoon of water and a couple of teaspoons of caster sugar.  Once the mixture starts bubbling take off the heat and carefully taste, if too sour, add more sugar as required and if too sweet, add a squeeze of lemon juice.

Tips

Buttermilk can be found near the cream and crème fraiche in most supermarkets, but if you don't have any yoghurt is a superb alternative and is what I used.

This recipe is a favourite and brings the enjoyment back to breakfast time, give it a go and see what you think.

Eating out

Eating out is a great excuse to get dressed up, really make a night of it. I try to eat out once a month, be it going to the local pub or a silver service restaurant, it is a great date. I love it best when it is spontaneous...my boyfriend will occasionally turn to me over breakfast, or walk in on a night and just say, shall we go out for dinner tonight? Never ever do I say no to this, such a rare event it is, usually it is me planting the seed of thought, but when it is out of the blue I jump at the chance.


The only problem is however, on these spontaneous days when you ring up they are full, or offer you such ridiculous times like half 5 or half 9.  The disappointment is so immense considering you were actually more than satisfied with the prospect of a home made meal ten minutes before. What do I do on these such occasions? I bring the restaurant to me.


Think of the cuisine you want and really go to town with it. This tends to be the time when I get out all the random sized and shaped dishes family feel compelled to bring you back from holidays for which there seems to be no useful function and I fill them with dips and nibbles and all sorts. Set your table like a silver service restaurant if that's what you were going for; bring out the napkins and find the biggest plate you can then put a smaller plate on top and so on and so forth until you have created a mild gradient of crockery. Put out wine glasses whether you want a glass or not, fill it with ribena if you want; you are simply setting the scene.


Dress accordingly for the restaurant you are creating; even get your children to serve and wash up, if you want a date - my Mum and Dad used to get me to do this all the time for dinner parties...it was win win for me, I got money for staying up past bed time.


Last night we had an Indian meal. First of all I didn’t serve until 8 because this is the optimum time you would sit down in a restaurant, in my opinion. I set the table with the various dishes and glasses and even got the typical beers in (for him) that could be found on offer at an Indian restaurant, (Tiger, Kingfisher or Cobra). First I did a pickle tray:


Bought popadoms
Mango chutney (bought)
Onion and tomato salsa (chopped raw onions and tomato with a  sprinkle of chilli powder)
Mint, cucumber and yoghurt dip.


Quick Tip

If you like raw onion but find the flavour a bit intense, cut the onion half an hour before you want to use it and mix with the tomatoes and leave in the fridge. You will find that the onion flavour has mellowed slightly by the time you come to use it.


For the main event I cooked a chicken curry; a Rogan Josh of sorts. I used a modified James Martin recipe for this:


(Serves 2)
1 tblsp veg oil
4 – 5 chicken thighs (you can substitute for any meat you like)
1 onion diced
½ tblsp of freshly grated ginger (optional1/2 tblsp of ground turmeric
¾ tblsp garam masala
¾ tbls ground cumin
1 tsp chilli powder
½ tblsp plain flour
1 can of chopped tomatoes
200 ml of yoghurt
200 ml of chicken stock
salt and pepper to taste
rice (65g per person)
saffron ( a few strands)
bought naan breads


Method

§         Heat the oil in a pan and brown the chicken all over, then set aside.

§         Add the onion and spices to the pan and simmer for a few minutes before adding the flour and then the chopped tomatoes and chicken stock.  Return the chicken back the pan, season and leave to simmer for 15 minutes.

§         Now add the rice and saffron to a pan of boiling water and set to boil for 15 minutes.

§         After this time you need to check the rice if ready and leave in a sieve over the pan it was cooked in.  The residual heat will keep it warm for a while. Put some plates in the oven to warm along with the naan breads

§         The curry should have reduced by half and have thickened, so add the yoghurt to the curry mix.  If at this point you find your mixture to be too thin, just gradually add a little more plain flour to thicken.

§         Once done you need to plate quickly.  Take your golden coloured rice and press into individual pudding moulds then turn out onto the plates to reveal a perfectly sculptured rice mound. Add the curry to the plate and serve with your naans.

Quick Tips

Chilli powder is dangerous, you can always add more but you can never take away and it has the power to completely ruin your meal so be very cautious.  Start out with a flat tsp, and taste towards the end of the cooking process; if you want more you can then add more.


And for dessert…
You need something cooling after a curry, especially if it has turned out a little too hot for you.  Often I serve fresh pineapple or watermelon, but last night I went for the classic banana split…this is how I did it:

§         Take one banana and slice in half length ways, place in the bowl.

§         Place two scoops of vanilla ice cream between the banana pieces.

§         Take some strawberries, halved, and sprinkle over the top.

§         Now for the best bit…take 1 mars bar and break up into 3 or 4 pieces and put into a microwaveable jug/bowl with ½ tblsp of milk.  Heat for 30-40 seconds (watching all the time because this could bubble over) then take out, give a vigorous stir with a fork then heat again for about 20 seconds.

§         Drizzle the sauce over the banana split then serve with two spoons for the ultimate sharing dessert.

Enjoy!

Tea on the table

Hi Bloggees (that is my new term of endearment to the collective you out there).  So I have been absent for a couple of days and well I haven't been home that much, just at work!  I began a new job this last year working for an international company and with a new job and such a company comes opportunities to further yourself and education and to learn new skills so I jumped at the chance to start studying for a new qualification...you just never know these days what can happen to your job.  Now of course I find myself attending classes after work and not getting home until 9 and wow the time just disappears, you get home and after an hour it is time to go to be to get up and the day starts all over again.  These days of the week are incredibly long and stressful, but one thing I treasure more than anything is walking into my home and finding tea on the table (well almost).

Yes I adore cooking, more than any other activity, it is my time for relaxation and to unleash my creative side, but every cook likes a break in a while and you have no idea how much we appreciate it when someone else produces us a meal instead.  In fact guys....note this down, cooking is sexy...a woman will love you all the more for it so get your skills up to scratch and branch out a little from your signature dish.  My Dad always taught me a way to a man's heart is through his stomach, but I have news for you, it puts you in the good books with the ladies as well.  If you can cook well guys, it will impress.

Ok, enough of that I will tell you what he cooked for me....a chicken bacon and mushroom pie with a cider sauce, carrots and peas. So delicious.  He didn't get to the pudding part, but hey it's an achievement to even get him to eat puddings, when I first met him he was a savoury only kind.  I got the recipe off him though so here goes:

Chicken breasts diced
Bacon diced
Mushrooms sliced
Carrots cubed
Onion diced.
Puff pastry (ready bought unless you want to spend hours making it)
Dry Cider (or chicken stock) Half a can/200 mls
Soured cream (or creme fraiche) 2 tablespoons
Peas

Quantities are really dependant on the your preference, amount of people you are feeding and size of dish.

Method

• Fry off the chicken and as it turns white, add the bacon for a minute or so then add the onion and carrot and cook for a further 5 mins.
• Add the bacon or chicken stock to the pan and let the mixture simmer until it has reduced by half.
• Meanwhile find a dish big enough for your mixture (we used a small heavy bottomed casserole dish) and roll out your puff pastry until it is about the thickness of a pound. 
• Back to the bubbling mixture and add the soured cream..any dairy product like this will do, if I didn't have soured cream I would add creme fraiche or even yoghurt, probably not cream though because you want that tangy taste rather than a rich taste that cream tends to add.  We used 2 table spoons for a portion size that would feed 3 so adjust your measurements accordingly.
• When the sauce is thick enough to coat the bag of wooden spoon, take the mixture off the heat and allow to cool for 5 mins.
• Spoon into your dish and add the pastry top; cook in the oven on about 180 degrees for 20 mins, or until the top is golden brown.
• Serve with peas.

The wooden spoon test
Some of you may know this test and others may not but it is a test my mum always taught me and I will pass on to you.  Most sauces that you want in pies or with meals etc need to pass the following test:

"If it is thick enough to coat the back of a wooden spoon, it's ready"

This is how I check...I dip the spoon in the sauce and turn it over to see the back then run my finger tip through the sauce on the spoon (also a good excuse to taste) if it leaves a clear line (and the sauce doesn't run down my track as soon as my finger moves away) then you are good to go.

So...to everyone out there, young, old, male or female, if you can make this simple dish for your parents, friends, loved ones or whoever you want, they will be very happy and so should you!

Tomato soup - Heinz or mine?

Growing up I used to love Heinz tomato soup and wear the tell tale sign of the post orange glow around my mouth with satisfaction but nowadays I just don't get the same contented feeling following the bowl of soup.  Don't get me wrong, I revert back to my old ways now and then but more often than not I am left feeling rather guilty and dare I say it, a little sick from the glowing fake tomato mixture.

Now I find myself relishing the thought of a fresh tomato soup with crusty bread rolls or even welsh rarebit (cheese on toast - who am I kidding?) on the side. I usually find myself reverting to this meal if I know I am going to be eating late, as it's filling and satisfying yet light enough to go to bed soon after.  It is also great as one of your veggie options for the week and above all, dirt cheap, especially when you have a big family to feed.

My recipe is usually for two with a bit extra for lunch, but double up as necessary....here goes:

1 pack of salad tomatoes (at least 6)
1 onion diced
glug of white wine (optional)
tomato puree (about a dessert spoon)
chicken or veg stock (start with about half a pint/300ml - you can always add a bit more water)
salt and pepper to taste


That is the basic ingredients list, but sometimes if I want a more rustic soup and I have other vegetables to use up in the fridge I dice courgette, carrot, celery and even red pepper and add to the base of the soup.

Method

•  Fry off the diced onion (and extra veg if you are putting it in) in a little oil
• Add the tomatoes and let them sizzle for a minute or so with the tomato puree.
• Season with the salt and pepper.
• Add the stock. Whatever soup I am making, as a general rule I make sure the veg is at least covered with the liquid and then later if I think it needs a little more I will add as I see fit So if you have more veg put in more liquid and then it is trial and error.
• Cover and simmer for about 15 mins or until the tomatoes have softened and lost their shape.
• Take off the heat and liquidize the soup either by hand blender or in a food processor.
• Once all blitzed, return to the pan and reheat, it is at this point where I urge you to taste and adjust your seasoning if necessary,  Here you can also adjust the thickness of the soup by adding more liquid (milk or water) to suit your preference.
• Once heated serve with a drizzle of cream or creme fraiche and a sprig of basil (optional)

Variations

Sometimes I am in the mood for a little herbs and spice so add chilli powder or flakes at the onion stage and dried basil (I always add fresh nearer the end but dried basil near the start).
If you like your soup chunky then don't liquidize as much but if you want to get your children to eat more veg then don't stop until the soup is smooth.

Serve with hot crusty bread rolls slathered in butter...home made if you have the time and inclination, but if not, Sainsbury's do part baked baguettes as part of their basic range at incredibly good value (I think it is less than 50p for 2 large baguettes) and trust me when I say you cannot tell the difference between those and the rest of the part baked baguettes they offer. If you have children, why not serve with cheesy dippers  (cheese on toast cut up into soldiers), I am sure they will gobble it up.

I hope you find this as satisfying as I do.

A Swiss Dish Straight from the Slopes

It's about this time of year when you suddenly find yourself surrounded by people who have just come back from a quick ski break, or who are wanting to "get a week in this season" at the end of the month or who are renting a chalet with friends in the 3 valleys and whether you even like the sport or not, you just cannot help it.  It creeps up on you like a slow blush rising up your neck and then there it takes hold of you like the green eyed monster it is...you have what I call ski envy.  You cannot help but start to pray very hard for France, Switzerland, Austria... what the heck, the whole of mainland Europe to have one of it's warmest winters on record and remarkably very little precipitation especially on high ground.

Yes, it's miserable, it's winter, you are poor and everyone is jetting off to the Alps around you, but that isn't to say you can't bring a little of the Alps to you.  In fact, suffering greatly from this syndrome that seems to afflict the young and penniless, we find ourselves doing this throughout the year.  Take for instance last summer, I can't remember much sunshine but I do remember about a week of particularly humid conditions, so what did we do?  We bought a bottle of Mateus (cheap and cheerful) some king prawns to fry off in a little garlic butter (minus the garlic) white wine, lemon juice and a sprinkle of parsley and we threw open our Juliet balcony windows and pretended the angry tea time traffic below was simply the tooting of scooters and smart cars weaving their way through the narrow streets of the old town in Verona (yes I am mixing Juliet/Italy with Mateus, a Portuguese wine, but lets not let the facts get in away of a good story).

One of my favourite winter warmers is cheesy swiss bake, a recipe I found whilst trawling the good food website for inspiration a couple of years ago and liked it so much I added a slightly modified version of it to my repertoire. This is also easily adaptable to a vegetarian option if you substitute the bacon and add extra veg such as mushrooms, butternut squash and even peppers as well to make this a satisfying vegetarian meal.

Here is the link:
http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/1928/cheesy-swiss-bake

My modification
Instead of raclette cheese, I use a block of gruyere (about 200g) grated and some parmasean or grana padano (about 100g) and I also add mushrooms to the dish.  I also find the amount of wine in this recipe is too overpowering for the dish and actually, probably half that amount is enough; a good glug or enough to taste, I would say.

BE WARNED this is a highly calorific dish so this is what I do for a healthier version:

• Have this as a side dish, to accompany a low fat meat such as turkey breast and green veg.
• Substitute the double cream for either half fat creme fraiche or reduced fat double cream (Elmlea do an extra light version).
• Don't have too much! This is a great dish for sharing so invite people round to make sure it gets eaten and you aren't tempted.
• Eat this dish after actually having done exercise (preferably out in the cold so you get that just off the slopes feeling, which adds to the overall effect that we are trying to achieve).

And to finish off, you can either redeem yourself with a tasty fruit salad with a dollop of ski yoghurt on top,or go the whole hog and have apple pie and custard.  Whether you are jetting off for some winter sports or curling up at home this one is a perfect winter warmer.

The Art of the Poached Egg

Sunday mornings equal fry ups; the typically British breakfast.  Not for myself I might add; I can't seem to stomach all that grease so early in a morning but pancakes and left over puddings, that's more my thing.  Nevertheless, almost every weekend I find myself making bacon and eggs at least once for my other half.

But here's the question....how do you like your eggs in a morning?  With a kiss? Scrambled? Fried? Or are you really posh and go for poached?

Well typically my boyfriend opts for poached which sadly is a skill that has eluded me for a while, to the point where my sister and boyfriend launched a joint project to teach me how to poach an egg.  I'm not talking about using a poacher, I mean in the pan of water like a chef.  They make it look so easy on the tv...in it goes, a few bubbles and out it pops this beautiful round symmetrical globe of white with a golden centre like the sun breaking through a cloud and on to the toast and they always take a knife and show you just how runny that centre is don't they?

Well my past attempts have been completely dismal; quite often I would find that my yolk would become completely detached from the white in the pan and not come together at all and leave a big tangled web of white strings and completely overcooked centre.  Other times I have managed to burst my yolk contaminating my pan and having the throw the whole lot away and other times completely squashing the whole thing before it gets to the table so it just looks a mess!

But thanks to the dedicated family I have around me, I can finally produce a half decent poached egg.  My sister started first with a demo and concluded (after my failed attempt) that I throw the egg in too high, so for Christmas I found some silicone egg poachers, which resemble half a broken egg shell.  I tried these and thought I was doing well until I utterly obliterated the eggs trying to get them out of the things.  Next my Grandma joined in and bought me some poaching pockets, sort of like a plastic bag that you poach the egg inside, yet I still felt like I was cheating.

Finally, this Christmas just gone, I got James Martin's Master Class and so come Boxing Day, it was time to try again.  Here's how I did it:

• Put a pan of water on to get a rolling boil.
• Meanwhile crack your egg into a ramekin dish.
• Add a tablespoon of white wine vinegar to the water.
• Take a whisk in one hand and the ramekin in the other and whisk the water until you create a whirlpool then holding the ramekin just above the surface of the water quickly pull out the whisk and tip in the egg into the centre of the whirlpool then leave for a minute and a half.

Now, this is where James and I start to veer apart in our methods, he says, keep in for two then straight out and into some iced water to stop the cooking process and repeat with all the rest of your eggs then put them back into boiling water to reheat then on to the plate.  Personally, I don' think this is necessary if you are doing just a couple of eggs; if I was making poached eggs for a few people, then I would continue with his method, but what I do is take the eggs out with a slotted spoon after a minute and a half then straight on to kitchen paper to drain for a few seconds. 

(At this point, if you want to be really cheffy and get a perfect egg, take a pair of scissors and cut off the straggly bits.)

Now for the next tricky part - transportation of the egg to the plate. In the past, I have tried picking the egg up again with the slotted spoon and often breaking the yolk of my poor excuse for a poached egg but I have found the secret is the kitchen paper. Transfer the egg onto your toast, smoked salmon or bacon by carrying it on the kitchen paper to the plate then carefully rolling it off the paper, thereby reducing the chance of breaking the yolk. Quick grate of pepper on the top then run like mad to the table to show everyone your amazing skills!! Only joking, once you have got to the pepper stage you are home and dry. 

The only problem is doing it for multiple people!! My answer to that is they can have scrambled! Poached eggs to me are the elegant option; definitely the posh option anyway and something of a treat.  Keep it for your favourite people or special times of the year. trust me the only reason I offer poached at the moment is because I am trying to master the skill, but I think I am almost there; a successful team effort!

The Humble Jacket.

Usually the weekend for me is an opportunity to create something I don't usually make; it's time for experimenting and exploring new dishes, when I have all week to think about what I am going to cook and then all day to prepare if necessary.  More often than not though, I do need all day... one thing I am particularly poor at in the kitchen is my timing.  If I plan to serve at 7, you'll be lucky if you get it by 8.  Things always seem to take much longer, though I blame it on the shoebox of a kitchen I have in my flat and the fact that we do not have one of those miracle machines that is a dishwasher; thus I have to constantly break off to rewash a pan or clear more room in order to create ....I have been told on more than one occasion by my boyfriend that I am the world's messiest cook, but be that as it may, I am not deterred.  Weekends are a time for relaxing and I do that through food.

However, today I find myself at a loss, not because I have nowhere to look for inspiration, (my flat is stacked full of foodie magazines,) but because sometimes you just don't want to.  After spending the majority of the day cleaning (post Christmas undecorating) and trying to get to those hard to reach places to pull random receipts out from under things, crawling around on the floor and dusting only to just envelope yourself in a cloud of the stuff I want a hot shower and something that will warm the cockles.

And so I turn to the humble jacket. When I am in on my own or I want a quick meal but nothing too fancy, even when I am going vegetarian for the night jacket potato is the option I choose.  I absolutely love them, you can have all sorts of toppings on them and I always feel satisfied after eating them.

I think my love of jacket potatoes actually comes from literature believe it or not.  When I was younger I had a Milly Molly Mandy book and I remember she spent her day doing things like small errands for her mother and knitting a tea cosy and going round the village and at the very end of the day her mother makes her and her friend jacket potatoes for supper, with their tops chopped off with butter and a little spoon in front of the fire (I may now be straying from the storyline slightly but this is how I remember it).  Now at the time I thought this a very odd thing to have for supper, because where I come from, supper has always been to me the biscuit and glass of milk you have just before bed, but having grown up and moved further afield from my home town I realise that this is what others refer to as their tea or evening meal.  Despite all that the very thought of this seemed so cosy to me on a winters evening and ever since then I try to recreate that imagined feeling in some way.

So here's how I do my jackets:

• Take your potatoes and give them a wash under the tap then prick them all over with a fork.
• Put them in the microwave for 4 -5 mins on medium power.  (If particularly big though, you may want them in for longer, likewise if you have quite a few potatoes in at the same time, say 7 mins)
• Next simply put them on a baking tray, in the oven at 180 degrees for 40 mins, until the skin is nice and crisp and the inside soft and fluffy.

That is it; no more faff than that.  I microwave them at first purely to speed up the cooking process; it just starts them off, you can of course stick them straight in the oven but they will probably take twice as long.  My Mum used to just do them in the oven; she would wrap them all in tin foil that had been previously buttered with a pastry brush and had a sprinkle of coarse sea salt on, before baking in the oven for what seemed like hours, perhaps this is why I am so impatient for them nowadays.

But what to fill them with? Here are some of my favourites:

1. Onion, bacon and cream cheese. (cooked separately to the potato and added)
2.Cheese & beans (or just either on their own)
3. Tuna & mayo
4. Chilli
After baking just scoop out the potato from the skins, mix with the filling and pop back in the skins, then into the oven until they begin to brown.

The onion, bacon and cream cheese one is my absolute favourite, I love it, something we always had as a family and something I will continue through my own family.  Simply delicious.  Tonight though, we are having chilli.  We had chilli earlier in the week, and not just any chilli, this is Heston's Chilli.  Anyone see "How to cook like Heston" the other night? I missed it, so caught up on demand and it just so happened I was actually going to make chilli that night, so I thought I would make his, and it was delicious, although my spiced butter didn't exactly go to plan and I ended up not paying attention and burning the spices causing a lot of smoke and alarm from my boyfriend, but the main event was delicious, we had it with fajitas, (well deli wraps from the supermarket).  It is my usual alternative to getting the fajita kits, which sadly have garlic in them, so I do mine from scratch slightly differently.

So we are using up the leftovers tonight and finishing off with a dollop of soured cream on top and then for pudding....more comfort....apple pie.  Normally I would have custard with it for ultimate  comfort factor, but tonight, to counteract the chilli, I think we will go for ice cream.  Roll on tea time... need I say more?

Introduction

Hello

Blogging was not my idea, but my boyfriend's.  He thinks it will be a great idea and that the ideal job for me would be a food writer and I would absolutely love that; I am mad about food.  I am the kind of person who thinks about tea when I have just had my breakfast and spends journeys to and from places planning menus. The other day my flat got invaded by boys, and as I sat at our dining room table watching these guys take over my sofas and play PS games before heading out, one of our friends asked me what I was day dreaming about and I began to laugh because this was my reply.....

"If I was on Masterchef and I had to do a twist on a classic, my classic would be Salmon en Croute, but my twist would be that it would be a mille feuille....a pastry base with a piped smoked salmon mousse and a small piece of salmon, followed by another layer of pastry, smoked salmon mousse and some prawns, and depending how tall it was another layer with salmon in again, with a tiny jug of holandaise on the side and depending on the season of course, then asparagus."

I don't think he was expecting that response, but then again, maybe he was, everyone knows what I am like.

You may be wondering where the name has come from....I always loved creative writing at school, it was my favourite subject within English and I have always been an avid reader and I would say that I have a fairly wide imagination and my Mother would say very active as well. I am the type of person who won't go running on their own in case some evil being tried to kidnap me, not because I live in a particularly dangerous place, but because the thought occurred to me that if this were to happen I would be so knackered from the effort of running that I wouldn't have the physical ability to run any faster. Or the type of person that bolts the door after her boyfriend if he goes out for the night and won't let him back in when he comes home unless he gives me the password, which is a big ask from someone who is inebriated ....especially when the password changes every time he goes out.  You may be thinking what happens if he forgets...and yes he has done on occasion and to the great delight of my sister, who has been on the phone when this has happened I then put him through a barrage of intense questioning until I was satisfied that he was who he said he was and eventually let him in. So that's where the "neurotic" comes from, because according to the dictionary definition neurotic means:

"related to or caused by a neurosis"

which in turn means:

"a nervous disorder, unaccompanied by disease of the nervous system, in which phobias, compulsions, anxiety and obsessions make normal life difficult"

The "Ramblings of"comes from part of a book title I had an idea for, because my Mum and Grandma always told me I should put my imagination to good use and write a book, though I doubt it is something I will ever do, even if we are all supposed to have at least one book in us.

So that is me down to a tee. Apart from being a slight fruit loop, I am a twenty something massive foodie with a garlic allergy, which means, I have to make the majority of things from scratch, which has just made me a better cook, because I can't take short cuts with ready made sauces etc

Here will be my food blog, but that's not to say I won't add in blogs about my books that I have been reading or a show I have been to see or general comments about... all sorts really, but predominently, this will be about food, my opinions of food, and chefs and recipes and what I am eating and why and I hope you like it and even try some of my ideas.