Beginnings

Hi! I'm now working from Wordpress. I've spent a great deal of time editing and reorganising this post on Wordpress and it is so much friendlier to read & follow my recipe from there. Click on this link to take you to my newest and old recipes:

https://kitchenbaroness.wordpress.com/

We have family and friends over on a regular basis and I do enjoy cooking and entertaining them. Cooking for four is not quite the same as cooking for ten and certainly not the same as cooking for over twenty. The menu changes and dining plans have to change.

Through the years, I have been awful at keeping a record of menus, recipes and entertaining ideas. I had not taken close to enough photos of those many meals that I had painstakingly prepared that I was quite proud of.  I would have a family member or friend request that I recreate this or that dish and more often than not, I would have no clue as to the dish they were referring to and if I did, I could not quite remember how I whipped it up. So it is time to keep a proper record with plenty of photos!

I have no formal culinary training and what works for me might not work for you. This is where you let your own creativity take over. At the end of the day, the meal would be enjoyed by you, your family and your guests. You are the best judge of what would work for you.

I have little patience for fiddly work so I tend to choose the most hassle free route and keep my meals as fuss free as possible. Do you tend towards the same?

I try to dress up the table if not the house when we have friends and or family come by. So even if the food did not turn out as well as I wanted it to, hopefully my guests would still be bowled over by the effort I put into making them feel appreciated by dressing up the house.

Whilst, I maintain my sanity by veering towards fuss free meals, I contradict my fuss free methodology by preparing my own tahini, garam masala, curry paste, soak my own chickpeas as oppose to opening up a tinned one, baking my own bread, cultivating my own yeast - I did not think the latter was worth the effort.  I am no 'convenience food' snob.  You should take a look at my pantry. It is Spam galore in there!

It is mango season and for the first time in seven years, our mango tree is bearing edible fruit and in abundance. Over a hundred at last count and we have since stopped counting.

See the slightly plump and elongated mangoes in the foreground.

I have mangoes coming out of my ears! No surprise then that my next post would of course include a mango recipe.  How do you like to eat mangoes?  I have a weakness for those mango puddings served at dim sum restaurants. Perhaps I should post that recipe.