I Like To Cook - Do You?

I enjoy cooking, it's something that I only picked up once I had left the Army.

I'm self taught, started by following recipes then progressed to just having a go with what ever was in the cupboards and fridge!

I enjoy putting ingredients together over a period of time, whilst I have a beer or two, or more,  which have in the past led to a few mishaps!

Back in my bad old days, I cooked a chilli, drank a couple of bottles of red wine, woke up in the morning to find that I had not eaten anything, the kitchen looked like it had suffered a mortar attack and my chopping knife in-bedded in the ceiling!

I have calmed down a lot since then, and can safely say my knives do not end up in the ceiling!

Especially as they are a set of Globals - which are rather expensive to say the least! I recently looked into buying a Global Meat Cleaver (Chinese Chopper) but at £249.00 that was not going to happen. 

To replace the current set we have would be well over £1000.00

Beautiful knives though, Japanese with a rich history behind them.

I love cooking outdoors, although BBQ cooking I feel is rather overrated. We have a big gas BBQ, but it does not get used that much to be honest. Perhaps I should make more of an effort with it.

I cook a fair bit in the cab of my truck, but it is rather easy, especially after a long day just to put a pre packaged ready meal in the microwave on board and ping it.

When the better weather arrives I can cook outside, and get some chops and steaks going.

That's if I have a job to go back to, but that's another story!

There are things I do not enjoy cooking, Roasts is one of them, easy to do, but I get no pleasure from it. Mundane things like egg and chips or sausages, you know, every day sort of bung it in the oven type of food. No prep, apart from removing packaging.

No pleasure from that at all.

I do however like to cook things that take time, it's all in the preparation.

Stir frys, rich meaty type dishes such as the aforementioned chilli, currys, and anything else that requires a bit of care over what you are doing.

It's also about finding good ingredients, the best you can find or afford. Of course you can make a compromise but when it comes down to it, why should you.

I'm lucky I guess as Kiera although an ok sort of cook, does not enjoy any of the process and is more than happy to leave the cooking to me.

Where as she has to follow a recipe to the exact detail, I'm more of a Jamie Oliver type of cook, my measurements are in pinches, glugs and handfuls!

This week, I'm trying out a couple of new dishes, I will be following a recipe for all of them.

On the menu this week we will be trying

Chicken Satay with Noodles

Chicken and Mushroom Stroganoff

Chicken Balti Curry

An array of chicken based international dishes (chicken being easily available and cheap plus the kids eat it)!

What I will try and do is take some pictures as I go and put them up for each dish.

Cooked Double Barrelled Sausage Rolls yesterday which turned out rather well!

To give them a bit of extra taste I laid the Tesco Finest Chipolatas onto a wash of Soya Sauce. Coated them in egg yolk to give them the brown colouring and sprinkled with Sesame Seeds. For the Pastry I cheated and used ready made Puff Pastry, quick, simple and saved loads of time.

And previous to those I made some coleslaw using just carrot, onion and red cabbage.

Not sure where this blog is going now! Right off the travel scene and now into cookery!

Oh well, it's my blog and my diary of what is going on in my life right now.

Till later..............