Writing a cookbook while you have a full time job is a lot of hard work. Over the last month I’ve spent alternate weeks in the office and at the studio in Acton, with the weekends spent writing lists, shopping and prepping for the shoots whilst somehow also managing to squeeze in a trip to Yorkshire, a family wedding and our first year anniversary celebrations. You know what they say about giving a job to a busy person . . . Continue reading
While I don’t have a new recipe for you this week, what I do have is a little insight into what I’ve been up to during my absence from this space. Last week we spent four days shooting the first set of photographs for The Little Loaf: Homemade Memories (my first cookbook (!), coming out next year). With four photoshoot days down and six to go, I’m by no means any kind of expert, but am learning a lot, fast, so I thought it would be fun to share a few photos, insights, observations and general excitement about the whole process. Continue reading
. . . I’ve been working on the first round of edits for my book. Most of my spare baking time has been spent in front of the computer or scribbling myself notes and any time spent in the kitchen (beyond what we eat on a day to day basis) has mostly focused on re-testing any recipes then testing again. It might be a couple of weeks before I post anything new, so in the meantime here are some more iPhone snaps of what I’ve been working on.
There was also a nice little feature on the little loaf from Sorted Food last week. If you’re new to this space it offers a lovely little recap of my last few years blogging. Just don’t look too closely at those early posts please: they’re a little like a disastrous past haircut in terms of cringe factor.
With the sun shining and the second May Bank Holiday just around the corner, it’s time to bring out the cocktails. That, plus the fact that I handed in the first draft of my cookbook this morning – all 8 chapters, 100 recipes and 50,000 words (yep, I might have overshot the word limit a fraction but that’s what the editor’s for, right?) of it. Let’s celebrate. Continue reading
My first book deadline is just a couple of weeks away and my fridge and freezer are groaning with food, my recipes are out with an army of testers and I’m finalising the ingredients and anecdotes in every spare moment. For those of you who don’t follow me on Instagram, here’s a sneak preview of some of what I’ve been working on. Continue reading
Homemade eggs benedict
James Ramsden is a high achiever. Trained at Ballymaloe cookery school in Ireland, he started blogging back in 2008 and has since carved himself a career as a respected food writer for The Guardian, The Times, Sainsbury’s magazine and more. Not content with writing for broadsheets, magazines and maintaining a successful blog, he also runs a popular supper club from his home in North London and has just published his first book. All at the tender age of 24. That’s two years younger than me. By rights I should be green with envy.
Hot toasted muffins with salty butter
But I’m not. There’s something extremely likeable about James and his attitude to food. He wants cooking to be simple and he wants it to be enjoyable. He appreciates the fact that, for most people, eating isn’t necessarily an endless succession of dinner-party-standard meals – that in any given week we’ll fluctuate between feeding large groups of friends and throwing together a solitary supper. His attitude reminds me of a cross between a younger Jamie Oliver (minus the cheeky chappy vocab) and my own boyfriend (like James, Carniverous Boyfriend is a Yorkshire boy). Maybe it’s an age thing. Maybe it’s a boy thing. But I definitely feel like there’s a lot I can learn from his enthusiastic, experimental, laid-back approach to cooking. Food should be fun.