Why I love food and cook the way I do...

I love to eat. I love to cook. I spend a lot of my time thinking about, and talking about, food. I'm not sure if this is a bit tragic, but it seems to be one of my few hobbies.

It was suggested by more than one colleague that I should perhaps do something with this and start a food blog. I think it's possible that they were just trying to shut me up. But here's a bit of an explanation for why I'm so food obsessed:

- I was brought up in a 'like it or lump it' household, meaning you basically ate what was put in front of you. (I understand this sentiment completely) As such, the only food I dislike is brussel sprouts. And if you like them, you're wrong.

- I spent too many years as a student, and even more just being generally skint, and so my hopes for eating healthy, tasty food were based largely around home made soup. It's damn cheap. I'm working now, but still have a love for a really tasty comforting bowl of home made soup.

- I don't always eat meat, for similar reasons to the point above.  It's expensive, and I don't like the idea of cheap meat. Where possible I try and make sure I buy meat at my local butcher, but often, particularly during the week or after a heavy weekend, I eat like a vegetarian.

- I hate to waste food, because it's a spectacular waste of money. Call me a tight fisted Scot all you like, but I see absolutely no reason to throw stuff away when it can probably be used in something.  Like soup.

- I have a time consuming job that I love, but that has resulted in me splitting my life between two Yorkshire cities, Leeds and Hull. I have a boyfriend who I live with who dislikes cooking, and is incredibly long suffering in my meal-based demands. I have been known to email him instructions for how to make our dinner. I'm not proud of this.  On my part, I try and 'batch cook' a lot. My days off are often largely spent in the kitchen.

This blog will probably contain my own recipes/re-hashed versions of other people's recipes as well as reviews of any meals out I have. It will probably have nonsense about cookery programmes. After all, a new series of Masterchef is about to start, and I can't possibly miss that.