Tag Archives: dinner

What do you do when you *really* don’t want to cook…

Does anyone remember that BBC daytime TV show in the 1990s called “Can’t Cook, Won’t Cook” with the ever-irrepressable Ainsley Harriott?   He used to get one person who can’t cook in one corner and another who won’t cook in another corner, and teach them step by step how to make something in front of a live audience.  I grew up with this show so it’s a bit of a blast from the past to have found an episode on YouTube:

(there is another part also available to watch linked through that episode if you’re really keen!)

Sometimes the reason why the Won’t Cook chef didn’t cook was because he/she couldn’t cook, which meant that occasionally it was actually a show of  “Can’t Cook, Really Can’t Cook”.

Sometimes the Can’t Cook chefs were a bit like Bender from Futurama – desperately want to cook and enjoy it, but end up doing something a bit odd.  We all know someone who’s done something a bit odd – like put hamburgers in the toaster to cook them, or decided that they couldn’t be bothered to chop up the onions and tried to blitz them instead in a smoothie machine…

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The One Thing That Will Help You When It All Gets Too Much

I read this wonderful article recently on HelloGiggles about Liz Lemon in the TV series 30 Rock, and the title was awesome:

http://hellogiggles.com/i-dont-know-if-i-can-have-it-all-but-i-can-have-this-sandwich

“I don’t know if I can have it all, but I can have this sandwich”.

Women in particular are constantly told by the media, our peers and society that we can have it all – marriage, kids, that house/flat you’ve always coveted, the career, the dog, the shoes, the handbag…what have you.  In fact, it’s not just the case that we can, but we MUST, it is our duty as women to DO EVERYTHING and to GET EVERYTHING without ever breaking into a sweat, caving in under pressure and still being thin and pretty despite not getting enough sleep at night because of ALL THE THINGS WE MUST DO!

It all gets too much.  Heck, I don’t even have children yet and I struggle – all you mothers out there holding down man, kids, career, house and car, I salute all of you!  You’re awesome to get to this stage.

And to all those men out there, working hard to bring in the money for your families, and doing it all with incredible grace under pressures to keep going, never cracking, staying strong – I salute all of you too.

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Family Recipes Are Awesome – Let’s Bring Them Back

I love family recipes.  They are different from national/regional and traditional recipes because they are unique to each family.

Normally this might make you think of a stereotypical Italian family where everyone says, “Ah, but I miss the way my Mama used to make this dish”, and it is passed down from generation to generation; but I have brushed with this myself when I tried to make Kartofelgulasch (Austrian potato goulash) for my partner.  He’s Austrian (surprise!) and Austrians have a very strong (and tasty) culinary identity and history.

It’s become something of an obsession of mine to try and recreate my partner’s family dishes – not just to surprise him, but also out of curiosity, and we get to eat the whole lot regardless (yum!).  I tried to make it as per the traditional recipe – lots of onions, equal amounts of potatoes, the whole pot of paprika, dry-cured sausages, beef stock and goulash spices – but when I presented it eagerly and expectantly to my partner, he said:

“This is tasty, but this isn’t Kartofelgulasch from my childhood”.

And I was utterly stumped.  I checked the recipe again and used a different sausage, convinced that maybe this would be the cause.

But no.

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