Introduction

I have been thinking about setting up a blog for a while now. I've had blogs in the past, and one through my Ph.D. but I've not been a regular updater at any point in the past three years, and the previous incarnation of my blog has long been deleted. I don't want to blog about life specifics, but I am a follower of a growing number of food-related blogs and have decided to keep a record of my own culinary pursuits. 


I am a keen cook and baker - I separate these out as they are very different things. For me, cooking is an art, and baking is a science. When cooking you can think 'oh stuff it' and do your own thing, you can leave things out or add things in, or just get busy with the spice rack and you should end up with something edible. To play around with baking is much more fiddly; each ingredient in a baked recipe has a distinct purpose, and while substitutions can be made it is best to plan these before you start. That said, I am terrible at following a recipe and have to keep myself on a tight rein while baking. 


This morning I have taken delivery of some early birthday presents from Amazon. This time next week I will be celebrating the last day of my first quarter century. I picked up the Great British Book of Baking (companion to the recent Great British Bake Off series on the Beeb) in Waitrose last week and was pleasantly surprised by the content. It will join my other baking books, and may even surpass the Hummingbird Bakery book as my favourite. The Super Jam Cookbook is something that I've had my eye on for a while, since making my first batches of jam this summer. I live with someone who is scared of the sugar content of jam, and we get through a large amount of 'Super Jam' so I'm keen to make my own.


Being a scientist, there will possibly be some scientific content to the cookery stuff here. I can't help it, cooking interests me for several reasons. One being that I love food and most importantly, eating, the next being that I love science. Everything you cook is a form of scientific reaction and at times I am likely to discuss this. If me embracing my inner geek is too much, feel free to skim these parts. 


I am a lover of kitsch kitchen equipment and in the picture of my Amazon order you can see a fluted pie dish and some coloured measuring spoons. I don't own an actual pie dish (I have casseroles that I put pastry on sometimes) and saw this and it appealed to me. I would very much have like a Le Creuset one, but this was 1/6 of the price, and I *am* still a student after all. The measuring spoons just made me smile!


I don't know if anyone will read this, or indeed if I will update, but here goes...