Yes, I am now in the realms of work. Not exactly the nine to five, as it's more 8.30 until whenever things get done. But I'm loving it, which is a good sign. Okay, I'm only two days in, but they've been long days, with a steep learning curve, and so far so good. I'm hoping that once my body gets over the initial shock I'll be right back to the ridiculous amounts of baking and preserving that have graced this blog in the past.
But, no fear, I do have a recipe for you today, and lots of other things to share. Firstly, I shall admit to spending the five days after hand-in very well indeed; in the beautiful sunny hills of Italy. We ate too much food, and drank far too much wine, and it was fabulous. The perfect little treat.
As ever my photos were mostly food, and frankly with produce as stunning as that from Italy who can blame me. It wasn't quite autumn there, but the gourds were already out in force, showing off their deep oranges and dusky yellows. The grapes were heavy on the vines and the coffee and pastries divine. Mmmm....
I also have seven things to share with you as hinted at in the previous post. I was very kindly given the kreativ blogger award by Liz, whose lovely blog occupies this corner of the web, and I think it's about time I share the seven fact about myself. Hmm, it's hard thinking of these things, but I'll give it my best shot. I just hope they're vaguely interesting.- By the age of 11 I knew I wanted to do a PhD, and by the age of 14 I knew what I was going to do it in. Weird huh?!
- One of the reasons behind wanting a PhD was so that when I was a great rock and roll bass player people I could be called Dr, like Dr Dre or Dr John, and I'd actually be one. I haven't even picked up my bass for ages.
- I don't mind rodents or spiders, I love snakes. However, I am terrified of slugs and snails. They freak me out, and I have been known to freeze and squeal at the sight of them. I kid you not.
- One day I want to own two sheep. One called Eddie, the other called Bill.
- I'm bit odd about white and yellow foods. Eggs are only okay if cooked into cakes, I don't like bananas, and am very particular about creams and custards. It's a texture thing. Blah, slimy.
- I have competed in a national fencing competition. I came second to last.
- I'm not a huge fan of potatoes, or any other carb apart from fresh pasta or bread, but I crave good chips rather more often than I admit to.
And speaking of which, I give you a recipe:
These were perfect just before we went away. Baked rather than fried and seasoned with lashings of salt, pepper and paprika. Amazing. They may seem simple, but try them.Baked paprika chips.
One large potato per person
2 tsp oil per potato + 2 tsp (I used olive)
salt
black pepper
smoked paprika
Preheat the oven to 220C. Coat a large roasting pan with 2 tsp of oil and place in the oven as it warms.
Slice the potatoes into small strips, making them like fries rather than traditional British chips. Once the oven has reached temperature spread the chips out into the pan and drizzle the remaining oil over it, grind some pepper and salt over them and toss. Return the pan to the oven and cook until the chips are golden brown and crisping. You'll need to toss them about every fifteen minutes. Mine took about 45mins.
Remove from the oven. Douse in paprika to your own taste (I like a lot). Return to the oven for two minutes to bring out the flavour of the spice and then serve tossed with more salt and pepper.
See, I've finally given you a recipe! I promise more, honest. Apparently there's a tradition in the office that every Friday someone brings in some sort of cake. Guess who's getting in on that immediately!
As for passing on the award, I have a theory. So many of you out there are creative and blogging, that passing it on to just seven people would be a little cruel, and as it happens I know many of you have already either received the award, or something similar. So, I shall instead just try and pass on my enthusiasm and love of all things creative and hope to continue reading about all the amazing things you are all already doing that inspire me daily and make me realise that no matter how long the days at work, coming back to this little space makes me grin and motivates me. Thank you everyone, for your reading, and for your writing.
Something that helps me in terms of getting blog posts written is a) keeping a little notebook in my purse into which I scribble anything from ideas and reminders for posts to phrases and whole segments... when I'm on the tube or sitting in a waiting room.
ReplyDeleteIf I'm at work and not joining a friend for lunch in canteen or out, I'll bring something back to my desk but instead of working, I'll throw some thoughts down into an email and send it to myself once lunch break is up, I can then expand upon and finalise these scraps when I get home. Makes writing the final blog post so much quicker.
Of course, there's still the photo processing to be done, which takes a little time but not too bad.
BUT to be fair, if I was working 5 days a week, I think I'd probably only manage a post a week or maybe every 5 days.
It's funny, you just make time actually. It's one of these things, if you want to do it, you just do! Anyway, I've made the exact same chips! Only I had the paprika at the start when I put the chips in - you can't beat home made chips!
ReplyDeleteThanks for playing and I love your seven things (especially the one about Eddie and Bill!). We often have oven cooked chips using Cajun seasoning in place of the paprika.
ReplyDeleteWhat a gorgeous looking pumpkin...awesome color.
ReplyDeleteMmm! Chips! lovely recipe, I'll be trying that soon.
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