And so it begins

What do people DO on Saturday mornings?

By this time (7.50am, Saturday) I’m usually on my way to work, grumpy about having had to get up at seven while I leave Diesel (my boyfriend. ‘Diesel’ - It’s a long story) in bed sleeping, but nonetheless wide awake and secretly looking forward to getting started in the kitchen, and of course to the cooked breakfast that will (hopefully) be on the cards at about 10.30. I am a Chef (Cook - or at least trying very hard to be one). I’ve been doing this for just over a year, and can’t believe how much my life has changed in that time. Time was that I never saw before 12am on the weekend, and then spent the next four hours wailing about how terrible my hangover was, and trying to hit on the food that I needed to bring me back from the edge (I will talk about hangover food in depth at some point. There is much to say). Many housemates have had to endure this. If any of you are reading, I apologise. Not any more though. My boyfriend despairs. I have long since learned that no matter how bouncy and awake I am at 7am, and no matter how much effort I put in to make him feel the same way, this will never happen. So, on this wonderful (and very rare) occasion that is a free Saturday from work, it is here I am sat, on my sofa in my flat in St Peter Port Guernsey, at 7.50am, finally, FINALLY starting the blog that I have been threatening to start for just over a year.

 

So, now what? I guess I need a mission statement (or something similar, mission statement sounds a bit wanky, I’m not trying to sell you Jesus). If people are going to spend any of their precious free time reading things I have to say, I feel I should make it clear what they are letting themselves in for at the outset. Kind of like when you start a new relationship. ‘I love you Dave, but I also love my 15 cats and I’m a kleptomaniac. You don’t like cats? There’s the door. Don’t say I didn’t warn you. Oh, here’s your wallet’. I don’t have 15 cats, and I’m not a kleptomaniac, but hopefully you get the point.

Essentially, I want to write about my food ideas, things I have seen in kitchens, new things I learn in kitchens, new food trends, general (hopefully interesting) observations on the industry, recipes, all furnished with some great photos (for what is the point of a food blog without great photos?). This last bit may prove a bit difficult. I have a pretty basic and serviceable digital camera which will do for now, but be assured as soon as I can I’ll be investing in something far better. Then the pictures should be off the fuckin’ chain. 

Often people, me included, think that being a chef (I am not a chef, I am a cook. It is fine distinction but I’d like to make that clear from the outset) is all about creativity. In some ways it is, but in many ways, and in fact when you start out, it is most certainly not. You spend your days learning how to get the basics right (peeling, chopping, washing, more peeling) and how to do them quickly, and then you have to learn to cook and present things according to someone else’s creative ideas. This is fine, it is how kitchens work, and it is how the top restaurants retain their stars (after all, if you didn’t get your arse kicked for something like not trimming beans to exactly the same length, standards in restaurants would never reach the heights that they do). However, I came into the industry rather late (I am 26, and have had to get used to being told what to do by people 6 years + my junior), and whilst I love the fact that I can now peel a box of potatoes quicker than you can say ‘truffled potato puree is on occasion better than oral sex’, I do miss being creative in the kitchen. At home I can do just that, but more often than not, I don’t see the point because I don’t have an audience. And what is the point of food without people to appreciate it? So, on this basis I will begin. I hope you enjoy, and if you do, please tell your friends. All of them.