...you might be asking. Or you might not be asking that, as you know where I've been. Or you didn't really care in the first place. But I'll tell you anyway.
Summer of 2010 was a crazy one. I had a baby on the last day of July. Out came lovely Margot, a very "healthy" 9 lbs 3 oz. I put that down to the daily doses of toast with peanut butter and nutella during my pregnancy. The last two months before I gave birth weren't particularly culinary, thanks to rampant heartburn. But I very clearly remember my last dinner pre-Margot. Mezze. Gotta love it.
The first few weeks after Margot arrived I mostly ate tinned soup and bread. And drank loads of water. I did virtually no cooking for the first month. In fact, it's only been in the last month that I've gotten my cooking brain back, starting with cooking a birthday dinner for Pete in November - steak au poivre with homemade chips and sauteed mushrooms. It was gorgeous.
This past weekend was my first foray back into three-course cooking, when friends came over to dinner. On the menu: winter salad (a Valentine Warner salad of shaved carrot, jerusalem artichoke, celery, chicory and red lettuce with a creamy anchovy dressing); pot-roast pheasant with celeriac mash (a Nigel Slater recipe from Tender, so AMAZING) and creamed spinach; and poached pears in red wine and ginger (simple, a bit overcooked, but still tasty, and very Christmassy).
I really enjoyed cooking again, I have to say. My approach thus far though has been very different. In order to get everything ready, I needed to pick recipes that involved some 'do-ahead' work - ie shaving the veggies and letting them sit in ice-cold water. Or recipes like pot-roast, which don't involve constant stirring.
I also have not been worrying (as much) about the exact health content of my recipes - measuring out the oil, for example. That may or may not come back in time, we'll see. I think it probably will return once I start cooking for three - which is at least a month and a half away. Then come the adventures in weaning - and then the name of this blog will permanently wrong!
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A passion for food and love of cooking lures me into the kitchen most nights, cooking for myself and my husband. If I'm not there, I'm trying restaurants both new and old. I live in east London with my husband, and I write about culinary and health-related issues surrounding food and create recipes that are seasonal, healthy and delicious (most of the time!).
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Meet the chef - Jennifer Trent Staves
A passion for food and love of cooking lures me into the kitchen most nights, cooking for myself and my husband. If I'm not there, I'm trying restaurants both new and old. I live in east London with my husband, and I write about culinary and health-related issues surrounding food and create recipes that are seasonal, healthy and delicious (most of the time!).
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How it all started...
It all started here on a lazy Saturday morning. Having been out late for drinks with friends, I was lounging on the couch watching Saturday Kitchen with a cup of tea. I had been thinking about starting this blog for awhile now, but a new job was keeping me busy. But with my husband Pete snoozing away and having time to catch my breath, it finally began.
Some background: food has always been a part of my life. I grew up in Atlanta with my parents, brother and lovely cocker spaniel. My dad is an amazing cook, and as we grew up, it was dad, experimenting in the kitchen. A fisherman at heart growing up on the Gulf coast of Florida, he loves all seafood and would cook it most days if only my mom would allow. My mom is also a great cook but prefers the comfort of a recipe book close at hand and doesn't like wavering from the print.
When I moved to New Orleans at 18 to go to college at Tulane, I began my own cultural food awakening. There were spices and flavors I'd had, some I'd recognized, and some I'd never even heard of. When I finally had my own flat, I had my own kitchen, and I played by my rules. I'd want to cook something, but didn't always know how - so a ring home to Dad gave me the instructions needed. Confidence grew, and I found I wanted to come home to cook most nights. I didn't want prepacked food on the shelves or the nearest takeaway.
By the time I moved to London at 22 (I didn't realize it was permanent at the time, but it has turned out to be) I felt awakened. I was willing to take anything on, try new things. Or so I thought. English food culture turned out to be such an enlightening experience. Thai and Indian food were not a part of my food life - but they're intrinsic to my enjoyment of food now.
Vegetables. Oh my god vegetables. It sounds weird but there isn't anything better. I was a vegetarian for about 5 years - and I swear, I didn't eat nearly as many vegetables as I do now. American use of vegetables in my experience consisted mostly of green beans and corn. Although Americans do a great salad too.
But the English have opened up my eyes to the beauty and simplicity of the vegetable. I now load my plate with things I probably would have considered disgusting in my teenage years. Parsnips. Fennel. I can't think of a vegetable I don't like, to be honest. If I come across one, I'll tell you. But the more I eat, the more I like.
Therein lies the rub. I love food and love experimenting but (like everything else in my life) I can get carried away. Take it that bit too far. One year I gained twenty pounds just because of my love of food. (Lack of exercise probably didn't help!) But over the past year, I have come to realise that you can make gorgeous food with amazing flavours - and it can be healthy - but it's not always easy. You have to work at it, have to experiment, which is exciting in and of itself.
I personally think most recipes don't need half of the oil they call for. Tweaking things to make them healther (and often, more flavorful) is exciting and I love it. I can (almost) always eat my own food. There are notable exceptions.
Cue the husband. Tall, lean, stomach capacity the size of North America. He can eat for days and not show a thing. And as I'm generally the cook in the house, it's been a sub-project to find things I can eat that he'll enjoy too. You'll see as we go along. I have several tactics - but my end goal is that we have nearly the same meal on our plates when we sit down. That involves compromises on both sides - but we're both happy after the meal. If either of us isn't - you'll hear about it.
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