I'm still here...

After doing so many posts a month I'm a little sad to have got over a week into May with none. After a few baking disasters (some non-setting lime squares, some metallic muffins, over-boiled potatoes, over-salted banana pancakes and a mug cake that was too bitter... I mean, it's a MUG CAKE, how the hell do you mess that up?) I took a week off from cooking, returning to ready meals and chocolate bars until I'd recovered. By Friday, I was ready to try again.

Pork chops wrapped in proscuitto with sugar snap peas and sauteed potatoes were well received, though we got some odd looks from a concerned passer-by who heard my visiting boyfriend flattening the meat with my saucepan as I don't have a rolling pin. On Sunday, brownies were made, and by Monday morning, all had been scoffed. Sunday night was piri-piri chicken with boiled potatoes, asparagus and the remaining sugar snaps. I cannot express how much better I feel for returning to a diet of fruit and home cooked food after a week of tinned soup and microwave meals, even after realising that many of the microwave meals available taste just as good and don't really cost any more (or sometimes less!) when it's just one of you.

But I haven't really got any specific recipes to share at the moment. The brownies I made were the ones in this post, and I can report that the first time wasn't just a fluke, these really are brownies that always come out right, even in a dodgy student oven. There's something so fun about the recipe, and watching the patterns as you gently fold the chocolate mixture into the whisked eggs and sugar.

I had a brief scare where I thought that the medication I've been prescribed had robbed me of my taste buds AND my appetite. It's one of the possible side effects and after a few things tasted funny I found myself panicking; food has become so important to me, such a passion, that I was desperate not to lose it. Those few short days made me appreciate the fact that I can now carry on with my culinary journey.

The thing that just continues to amaze me about food at the moment is how something like that can then turn into a tray of fudgey, chocolately delight. I love how a risotto changes from dry rice to creamy heaven, how porridge thickens, how cheese melts. I like how cake batter rises, how pancakes brown differently on each side, how toad in the hole puffs up and browns. Food really is fascinating and hopefully I'll have some more recipes for you soon!