Culinary mojo gone? Spag Bol is the answer.....and do they eat it in Chad?

So I used to cook.

 

All the time.

 

 I would create stuff that tasted sometimes rank but most of the time it tasted good. Well I liked it and seeing as in my house we tend to adopt the 'everyone cooks for themselves' attitude that was all that mattered. Since the lows and lows of my past few months I have no longer wanted to be Nigella or Delia or, if you're old enough to remember, Fanny, I just haven't been interested. I can stretch to a roast if pushed but most of the time it's been jacket potatoes and things involving bacon and eggs and mushrooms. I even stooped so low as to have a tin of soup with some grated ( low fat of course ) cheese in it the other night.

As far as I am concerned, that is infact lower than low. I am 45, not 15.

 

Being on a non diet and not following SW has attributed to this. When I was following 'the plan' you really had to cook and as I haven't, well then , I haven't.

 

Tonight I am hungry and I opened the fridge and the cupboard and thought 'hmmm' and then I thought some more and then I decided that I would make spaghetti bolognese and I decided this because-

 

1. I like spaghetti bolognese

2. It's easy

3. It tastes nicer than the time given to cooking it.

4. I only need to use 2 pans.

5. I had minced beef and veg and tomatoes and oregano etc.

 

 

 

 

So that was that really.

 

I remember I used to read recipe books, I used to stuff chicken with other stuff and then wrap more stuff round it and grill it and serve it with a sauce made from runny stuff and lightly steamed vegetables. I would eat it and give myself a proverbial pat on the back and then I would think about what else I could create in the kitchen. I found it relaxing and used to love putting my ideas into action but I think those days are gone.....well for the moment anyway.

 

I know that on the list of many things I have to do is to find my culinary mojo and reclaim my kitchen. Everyone else in my house is selfish when it comes to the catering. They use the last of ingredients and don't tell me, they leave packets of stuff open in my quite damp cupboards, they make a mess, they don't scrape their plates and it's time I maybe got a lock for that door. Despite having ignored it recently, the kitchen I still think of as mine and I don't want other people messing with it or in it.

 

Am I being harsh? I'm not sure. That's just how I feel.

 

Maybe I need to take a slowly but surely approach?

 

Tonight - spag bol.

Tomorrow night - beed wellington with duchesse potatoes and asparagus.

 

Or maybe I should just stop thinking about things so much?

 But then if I did then I wouldn't blog and I love my blogging. I am desperately trying to entice some readers from Chad - which incidentally is a land locked country in Africa and not a South American drug baron's haven as I initially thought.

 

So in true blogger style I have googled some typical Chad recipes and apparently the way to 'satisfy the hunger of any friends from Chad' would be to serve them the following.

 

A salad with lettuce, avocado, cucumbers and sliced carrots, with a vinegar and oil style salad dressing.

Green or red tea, very strong and with plenty of sugar

Fresh tropical fruits: mangoes, guavas, papayas, pineapples, bananas...

Peanuts roasted in a skillet on your stovetop

 

I am a little disappointed in how plain their food is so maybe I will lay off any culinary blogs whilst I try to capture their attention.

 

Now where did I put my peanuts and skillet?