The black sheep

So, I’m the black sheep of the family in that I can’t cook. Well, that’s not exactly strictly true. I can knock up a casserole or a curry or a roast, but nothing special. Both my brothers are excellent cooks in the savoury department usually Thai themed. So is my mum. The trouble is I have a bad memory and timing issues, and I’ve found that when something savoury goes wrong, it goes really wrong. Just the other day I forced myself to eat soup that I’d made which really was quite terrible!

I do however have a friend in the kitchen – The slow cooker, in which case nothing can go wrong (usually), timing issues are irrelevant and whatever you throw in it usually comes out good. The slow cooker is my friend.

Just recently I’ve been following a couple of TV programs and blogs on the web about baking. “The great British bake off” where Ed Kimber, who in a nut shell, worked in an office in an uninspiring job, gave up his career to follow his dream, entered the great British bake off and won. The runner up, Ruth Clemens is a manic mum with kitchen girl-power! You might like to check them out at He-eats and The pink whisk.

At school in home economics, given the choice I would be baking. At college, I would always be making bread rolls or deserts, so why when I left college and abandoned my catering career did I give up baking?.... I remember now. I was too busy being busy.

So what has ignited this interest in baking again? Rubbish on tv I think! Sometimes I can spend a whole night flicking through channels of rubbish wishing I had something more interesting to do. I needed a hobby that could keep me interested for a couple of hours. So Inspired to do something different, I got my mixing bowl out.