Welcome

This isn’t so much a blog as my repository of recipes. I’ve created it using the WordPress blogging software to utilize its built-in search and category facilities, which seem particularly useful when cataloguing recipes. Of course, now that it is a blog, comments are also possible and any constructive interactions are welcomed.

I use this as something of a notebook and a recipe may be documented here for a variety of reasons:

• it may be one of my favourites;
• I may regard it as a classic;
• I may find it particularly evocative of a country’s cuisine;
• it may be as yet untested but something I’d like to try (it will be marked as such);
• I may simply find it interesting.

I’ve been collecting these recipes for some time so there is a variety of measurements used: you’ll find good ol’ imperial, metric, and occasionally, even, those American cup-measure thingies. They are not mixed within one given recipe, though. (Fortunately, my good friends Keith & Marlene Stillman provided me with a very pleasing set of stainless steel American measures.) For the same reason, oven temperatures are likely to be found variously in Fahrenheit (°F), Centigrade (°C) and gas marks, though I have been trying to specify all. I’ve included a handy-dandy page of basic Conversion Tables.

In order to save constant repetition (even though it may be good for the soul), there is a page of notes common to all my ingredient lists.

I’ve started by slotting the recipes into pretty traditionally categories (in the sidebar) such as: starters, main-meat, main-fish, desserts etc.

For an extra dimension, I’ve tagged each recipe with a country of origin to make a kind of international index. This is at times a somewhat arbitrary categorization as cooking styles get blended in so-called fusion cuisine. However, I’ve tried to represent the spirit or intention of the recipes. If I’m hopelessly confused by a recipe, then, as a last resort I’ve called it “eclectic”. These international categorizations are displayed as a so-called Tag Cloud (whereby the font size varies by number of entries) in the sidebar.

So, if you’re looking for something different or interesting to play with in your kitchen, dive into the sidebar and explore.