Tuesday, July 10, 2012

Random Recipes – something a little different

Recently there has been a lot of sport on TV and so I've spent the evenings browsing the web.  The other night I struck gold and found Dom's blog at Belleau Kitchen.  Dom has been running a "Random Recipe" challenge each month where you (randomly) select a recipe from one of your cookery books and you have to cook it.  The aim is to get people to steer away from their usual cookery books and recipes and try something new.  A fantastic idea.  Then I read the challenge for this month which has a bit of a twist.  Instead of randomly selecting a cookery book and page, you're asked to photograph your cookery books - it's a genius idea!  Anyone who knows me knows that I love to sneak a peek at other peoples' kitchens and cook book collections (not in a creepy way obviously!).  There couldn't be a better month for me to start this challenge.  I've already had a little peek at other peoples' posts and I realise that I'm not alone in my cook book habbit, so, here we go...


Strangely, I don't have any cookbooks in the kitchen, although on the beams dividing the kitchen and the sitting room are a couple of shelves full, and to the right of those, another three shelves full, although these aren't quite so tidy...  Both these sets of shelves "should" be sorted by author or cookery type, baking, region etc.  Bottom right of the second picture are Mr Joe's tiny collection.





 
I then have some recent purchases which haven't found a home yet as all the shelves are full.  And some thought that limited shelf space would curtail my habit!



By the bed there are some of my Sunday morning lie-in reads.



In my little studio I have my vintage collection which I find fascinating to read through even if some of them are a little battered;



and my Where Women Cook magazines which are read slowly with a cup of tea and biscuits and then neatly put on my desk for future reference, with more tea and biscuits.



Finally, there are the bakery books which were my Grandad's (who sadly I never met). He was a master baker.  They include all sorts of information on running a bakery as well as recipes from the era.  I'm working on scaling the quantities of some of the recipes down so I can give them a try.


So there you have it - My name's Cat and clearly I'm a bit of a cookbook addict.  Thank you Dom for the challenge.




8 comments:

  1. That is a LOT of cook books and all over the place too! I particularly like the ones on the old beam shelves. Very nice. Wish I could see more of your home. Thus seems to be a very voyeuristic challenge this month! Thanks so much for joining in this month. I hope you make it a regular feature. Much love from sunny Spain x

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    1. Thank you for setting the challenge - it's been great being able to see into other peoples book collections and homes. Please don't say it's a lot of books though, I keep trying to tell my husband that it's not many really! You can get a peek at my kitchen and it's bargain refit in an earlier post. The rest of the house is a work in progress! Have a great holiday and enjoy the sun!

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  2. That's a great collection. I'm quite sure that I could lose myself for days in the four volumes of The Modern Baker.

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    1. Thank you. The Modern Baker volumes are facinating, they really does contain everything a baker would need from ingredients, recipes, equipment right down to accounts and regulations. I keep meaning to try some of the recipes too but they need quite a bit of scaling down!

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  3. So glad that you shared your blog information over at Cookbook Junkies on Facebook! I've just read most of your posts and have enjoyed them!

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    1. Thank you for taking to time to visit my blog. I'm very pleased to have found Cookbook Junkies - us addicts need to stick together!!

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  4. I love the old cook books, my grandmother had a Mrs Beeton that was used in the kitchen and passed on from her mother. Unfortunately she gave it to my cousin but I remember flicking through it as a child. Great collection. GG

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  5. Thanks GG. Vintage cookbooks can be facinating, especially if they are family ones. One that I bought has various notes and handwritten recipes tucked between the pages which I just love.

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