"I take a ridiculous pleasure in what I eat and drink." Not my words but the opinion of James Bond when he sits down to dinner with Vesper Lynd in Casino Royale. I do share his sentiments though. Food and drink have always given me tremendous pleasure. At first most of this came from eating. I am lucky enough to have a mother that is not only a good cook but was prepared to make most meals from scratch almost every night. This I'm sure was inherited from her mother who never failed to have at least two courses to hand and was a foodie long before it came into vogue.
For most of my young life I was content guzzling food, ideally in copious quantities. That's not to say I was indiscriminate in my consumption; I was fairly exacting in what I liked although was perpetually game for trying new things. However when I hit my mid-teens something changed. Almost overnight I decided that I was going to learn to cook. This was for two reasons. Firstly; I knew I was going to university soon and I thought I should probably become a bit more self-sufficient. Secondly; I had heard a rumour that cooking impressed girls and (as any sixteen year old lad will tell you) impressing girls was fairly high on my priority list!
Many years have passed since then and cooking has ceased to be merely a means of seduction and become one of my greatest passions. Not only do I enjoy the outcome of cooking (eating) but I have grown to love the process as well. I love experimenting with ingredients and trying to create new dishes. I get genuinely excited when I try out new flavours and techniques. Cooking is one of the rare occasions where I develop a nerdy enthusiasm for the process as much as the outcome. That said the disposing of the outcome isn't too unpleasant either... most of the time!
My interest in drinks followed a similar pattern. Like all young people I was curious to try alcoholic beverages. When I did, they weren't too bad. However me being me, I was desperate not to be part of the herd; therefore I decided that I rather liked Gnuness and whisky. Since that point I have learned a lot about my favourite drinks (not always from books) and have worked hard to understand and appreciate not only their flavour but the ethos behind them.
All of this has lead me to the firm belief that the process of experimentation with food and drink, as well as being a pleasure in itself, is a means to gaining great pleasure from what otherwise could become a fairly monotonous daily chore.
Over the coming posts I am going to attempt to share my love of eating and drinking with you. I will do this by reviewing restaurants that I have had the good fortune to eat in along with recipes and my musings on the world of eating and drinking.
For now I will leave you to go and get a snack while I prepare further posts!
TFB
For most of my young life I was content guzzling food, ideally in copious quantities. That's not to say I was indiscriminate in my consumption; I was fairly exacting in what I liked although was perpetually game for trying new things. However when I hit my mid-teens something changed. Almost overnight I decided that I was going to learn to cook. This was for two reasons. Firstly; I knew I was going to university soon and I thought I should probably become a bit more self-sufficient. Secondly; I had heard a rumour that cooking impressed girls and (as any sixteen year old lad will tell you) impressing girls was fairly high on my priority list!
Many years have passed since then and cooking has ceased to be merely a means of seduction and become one of my greatest passions. Not only do I enjoy the outcome of cooking (eating) but I have grown to love the process as well. I love experimenting with ingredients and trying to create new dishes. I get genuinely excited when I try out new flavours and techniques. Cooking is one of the rare occasions where I develop a nerdy enthusiasm for the process as much as the outcome. That said the disposing of the outcome isn't too unpleasant either... most of the time!
My interest in drinks followed a similar pattern. Like all young people I was curious to try alcoholic beverages. When I did, they weren't too bad. However me being me, I was desperate not to be part of the herd; therefore I decided that I rather liked Gnuness and whisky. Since that point I have learned a lot about my favourite drinks (not always from books) and have worked hard to understand and appreciate not only their flavour but the ethos behind them.
All of this has lead me to the firm belief that the process of experimentation with food and drink, as well as being a pleasure in itself, is a means to gaining great pleasure from what otherwise could become a fairly monotonous daily chore.
Over the coming posts I am going to attempt to share my love of eating and drinking with you. I will do this by reviewing restaurants that I have had the good fortune to eat in along with recipes and my musings on the world of eating and drinking.
For now I will leave you to go and get a snack while I prepare further posts!
TFB
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