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.
Being 42
Life, one day at a time
Tag Archives: cooking
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…
Eggs for lunch
Sunday 18th November 2018, 12.45pm (day 2,642)
Sometimes I have to work on Sundays, though always at home. Today, a sudden desire for soft-boiled eggs was one unexpected consequence.
Joe makes mousse
Sunday 11th November 2018, 2.00pm (day 2,635)
Joe is the person who has appeared on this blog the most often, but the last time was three months ago, in Guernsey, so let’s have him return with an action shot from one of his rehearsals for his upcoming Food Technology exam (or whatever it is they call it these days). The egg whites are whipped up successfully to the soft peak stage, and the chocolate (72% cocoa solid…) is about to go into be melted. And it all turned out very well.
A kilo of white stuff
Sunday 16th September 2018, 2.10pm (day 2,579)
Don’t worry, I have not become Scarface. Not yet, anyway. But I was making blackberry jam this afternoon, and quite successfully too as it turned out.
Plum ketchup: the early stages
Thursday 30th August 2018, 9.35am (day 2,562)
You want plums? Trust me, we have some. But seeing as we don’t have a transglobal shipping service to hand, our ability to export this year’s handsome plum crop is limited to putting them in plastic bags and giving them away for free down at the pub, or cooking them up into what preserves we can. Hence, plum ketchup. If you want the recipe it’s towards the end of Delia Smith’s Complete Cookery Course and I followed it religiously, as one should always do with Delia’s guidance.
Joe does the cooking
Thursday 1st March 2018, 8.25pm (day 2,380)
Off school thanks to the continuing dreadful weather, Joe recreates his cancelled Food Tech class for our dinner tonight. Clare helps by holding the pan but otherwise the meal was his.
I like this pic: I like the various minuscule little details about our kitchen that you guys normally never see. The penguin calendar. The levitating compost bin. The mysterious letter ‘S’.
Cider tasting
Monday 13th November 2017, 7.40pm (day 2,272)
First day of the academic conference that has brought me to the east coast. I could picture the intellectual efforts, but let’s go with the evening’s alcohol consumption instead. These guys (from the Hedge Hoggers company) not only served us samples of their product but engaged us in its manufacture as well, hence the barrel of apples captured in the background. I don’t even like cider particularly, and I’m not saying I was converted, but it was a damn good effort.
Preparing pepper soup
Saturday 6th May 2017, 2.00pm (day 2,081)
There’s a very well known photograph of a pepper by Edward Weston — here it is — but he was a guy who had the time and commitment to spend days photographing this one thing and invest it with mystical qualities. I was just making soup. This is why I’ll never be a pro photographer. But I still like peppers as objects, the way they’re not as soft as they initially look they might be (like tomatoes) and inside they have these weird landscapes of seed and flesh. And the soup was nice too.
