Thursday 9th December 2021, 11.45am (day 3,759)
No other veg is quite so purple as beetroot. Not this rich, vibrant purple that stains everything around it, anyway. And in such a grey, alien-looking container.
Pickling prep
Being 42
Life, one day at a time
Tag Archives: cooking
Street food
Thursday 4th November 2021, 12.10pm (day 3,724)
As being made by the guy on the “Dosa” stall in St. George’s Square, Hebden Bridge, this lunchtime. I did eat my lunch out today, although not here. Although this is a little out of focus, I like the mixture of colours and textures on this shot.
Plum preservation
Thursday 19th August 2021, 12.05pm (day 3,647)
Despite the propping up (an action which probably saved most of the remainder), half our plum tree has given up the ghost; the weight of the fruit was too much. So today I had a great many green plums to process. It was the fate of these ones to end up in a demijohn with sugar and vodka. Apparently, in a year, we’ll have slivovitz. Or, I’ll forget about them, stashed in the closet as they now are, and our descendants will rediscover them in forty years, playing host to entire new ecosystems.
Wild garlic motherlode
Tuesday 6th April 2021, 12.50pm (day 3,512)
Time for a forage….. No, I’m not telling you exactly where this stash is. Somewhere in Hebden Bridge. I will say no more.
Clare in the kitchen
Tuesday 23rd March 2021, 7.30pm (day 3,498)
Came as close as I ever have today to simply having no acceptable photograph at the end of the day. Up until this one was taken I had an out-of-focus picture of a halved avocado, and that was pretty much it. C. gets involved today almost as emergency cover. It’s still out-of-focus, but hey, at least she’s smiling.
Pizza cooks
Friday 5th February 2021, 4.45pm (day 3,452)
How long before I simply have nothing to photograph? Shockingly, for a Friday — the start of the weekend — this is a photowhack, the one and only photo taken on a given day. With a long zoom, its graininess reflecting the utter lack of intimacy there is in the world, these three find something to do with their 12″ Wood Fired Pizza Oven. The rest of us sit and rot, and with a rainy weekend forecast, that ain’t gonna change much.
Overburdened
Tuesday 4th August 2020, 12.10pm (day 3,267)
A dull day in every sense. Also the last day of life for this chilli plant, which as you can see has put all of its efforts into this single great fruit, and spent itself like the one-hit-wonder pop group. The chilli went today into a very nice curry; and the plant, with our thanks, was put out of its misery.
Kitchen abstract
Friday 15th May 2020, 6.25pm (day 3,186)
And so it has come to this after eight weeks of lockdown — abstract shapes in the washing-up bowl. And on a Friday evening too. But they are pleasing shapes, at least to me.
Fresh bread
Saturday 2nd May 2020, 5.55pm (day 3,173)
During the Great Hebden Bridge Flour Famine of early April 2020 I panic-bought some organic rye flour, at a ridiculous price, when it seemed to be the only bag of flour available in the town. Subsequently, I have tried making pizza with it, and then batter, and both were dismal failures. Then today, Clare suggested the entirely logical approach of making rye bread with it. At this it — and she — was a roaring success. There will be more of this.
Making lunch
Tuesday 15th January 2019, 12.50pm (day 2,700)
As this blog extends ever onward — day 2,700 today — and I remain committed to not repeating myself, the semi-mythical, but still plausible, Day When There Will Be Nothing To Photograph draws ever closer. And when that Day arrives, it’ll be one like today — spent entirely in the house marking, with only greyness outside so not even the full-quality house view to distract.
It did cross my mind though, as I made lunch, that, “Hmmm: I have never before tried photographing the gas element on the grill as it is working”. So here you are. As well as my typically elaborate cheese-on-toast arrangement.
But that’s it. I’ve now done the grill. What will happen next time there is a day like this? It could be as early as Thursday…
Being 42 