Saturday, July 22, 2006
First, Take One Onion.....
Firstly, a word about the title of this blog. They were words uttered by my daughter Leanne (always a faddy eater) in a fit of pique when presented with yet another of my fabulous creations. "You are incapable of cooking without using onions!" she wailed. "As far as you are concerned any recipe starts with the words 'First, Take One Onion' Agggghhhhhh."
You know what? I don't think she is wrong!
Who am I? My name is Steve and I'm 51 years of age. I live with Carol (you REALLY think I am going to tell you her age?!) in a little place called Brierfield at the foot of Pendle Hill 'twixt Burnley and Nelson in Lancashire. Kids have struck out on their own now and are happily married. Leanne (23) to Lee and Matt (26) to Nicola. Matt was responsible for the two rogues you will hear much about - CJ who is almost 8 and Jack who is 3 (Grandkids are fun - get some!)
I am the Major Bids Manager for a large IT company nowadays. But in the past I have done varied things - deep breath:
- Ran away to sea at 15 (well, joined the Navy. But doesn't run away sound better?) and became a cook
- Met Carol so decided to leave Navy
- Worked for a couple of catering companies as a chef at places like Gestetner and Capital Radio (yes, Kenny Everett WAS as crazy as you think)
- Decided to get into sales so became a Man from the Pru
- Decided insurance was a dying art (Geddit?) so got into IT
- Been succesful in IT (i.e. they have not found me out yet!)
I have found over the last few years that my interest in cooking has mushroomed (come on, keep with the program!) and Carol has to fight to get near the kitchen - and she is no mean cook herself. We both like to eat good food and I am basically tight so cooking a wonderful meal for very little money is my Valhalla! (All said tongue-in-cheek of course!)
We both have pretty wide tastes and like to experiment in addition to enjoying basics like egg 'n chips! Tonight we had:
Homemade spicy salmon and crab cakes served on a crispy roll garnished with a little mayonaise and ketchup, served with homemade potato wedges in their skins cooked with a very small amount of Herb de Provence oil and a sprinkling of garlic salt. Washed down with a nicely chilled white bordeaux.
That is a fairly normal meal for us - why eat ready prepared stuff that is expensive and sometimes crap when you can eat something homemade that is just as quick to prepare but less expensive and most times better!
Our motto is to try stuff. Sometimes it is a disaster - that is what bins and then takeaways are for!
Finally, why suddenly start this blog? Well, I came across http://cooksister.typepad.com/cook_sister/2006/07/ebbp5_the_taste.html - sorta like a Secret Santa for people who like food! I'd like to join in but suspect that one of the qualifying criteria will be to have my own food blog. So here I am! I live a very busy life (in fact, my days are shorter than most peoples, Honest!) But I will try and keep this up.
"Eat, Drink and be Merry Gentlemen. For tomorrow we die!"
Happy Eating!
(BTW- having some outside of your own family find your blog this quickly is not that common in blogland. In fact, I have never been the first to comment on anyone's blog before now.)
Wow!! EBBP has inspired its first blog!! Well, you're on good company - I started my blog because I desperately wanted to participate in Is My Blog Burning? and two years later I'm still at it. Beware: it's an addictive pastime! Looking forward to reading mor of your stuff.
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