The First Post!

Hello Dear Readers,


A funny thing happened a few days ago. Just two days before Christmas 2011 my housemate presented me with a copy of Jamie Oliver's 30 Minute Meals cookbook. As I had been eyeing the book for several months but maintaining a steady hold on my pursestrings, I accepted the gift with great excitement. And before I knew it, we had plans to use it as the basis for a cooking challenge.


The idea at this stage is to use the cookbook to create one meal each week for the next year. There are 50 'meals' in total, each consisting of three individual mains/salads/desserts/sides/recipes so that should take me through to next Christmas. In turn, those meals will be used to inspire this blog, in which I hope to write about the process of cooking as much as the food itself. And hopefully, if the food doesn't get scoffed too quickly, a few photo attachments of the delicious creations.


My hope is also that through this challenge I will get to spend more time with my close friends and family, with the excuse of providing gorgeous food for their consumption. I have always enjoyed cooking and good company so this should be the perfect combination. I should also mention that some of the meals will be helped along or cooked entirely by my dear housemate. Even the best chef gets a night off every now and then, afterall!


Before I proceed, I would like to point out just a few things on the business end of this blog.
Firstly, that I do not own or claim ownership of any of Jamie Oliver's recipes, nor do I claim ownership of his 30 Minute Meal idea. I will be referring to his recipes and meals throughout the course of this blog so I just wanted to clear that up. Please don't sue me, Jamie. I love your work.
Secondly, I recognise the likeness of the challenge to that found in the book/movie Julie & Julia. While I wish I could say my decision to make this blog was entirely independent of that idea, but let's be honest - the movie inspired a world full of would-be cooks to create things they felt were beyond their reach. I include myself in that group of would-be cooks.


So with all of that said and done...the challenge is officially underway. Bon Appetit.


Teagan