Thursday, December 9, 2010

The Jackson Pollock of the kitchen

I believe cooking is an art form rather than a chore and approach it this way whenever I hit the kitchen.

Which is why I have little time for those fastidious matrons like Paula (Where did she borrow that hokey accent from?) Deen or Delia Smith.

Instead give me Jamie Oliver or Keith Floyd anytime. I'm not sure if Floyd made much of an impression in the US; nor does he have much profile in the UK anymore.

But you have to hand it to a guy who drank more wine while he made lunch than he put into the recipe. Half way through filming Floydie appeared half cut and was sloshing sauce everywhere.

I once had to call him to ask him about maritial breakdown number 140. I fully expected to be told to shove my questions where the sun doesn't shine, but Floyd was in a talkative and animated mood, launching into a diatribe about his ex that I couldn't print.

Likewise I see myself as a spontaneous cook. I'm the Jackson Pollock of the kitchen, throwning around spices, herbs and other ingredients with abandon. If I drink too much pinot noir and the cat ends up in the casserole, that's all part of the creative process.

Inevitably the kitchen ends up looking like a war zone, leading to numerous attempts by my wife to wean me off cooking.

Tonight's recipe was a very simple blue cheese pasta with walnuts. Everything went according to plan and the cat is still around.

My daughter took one bite and proclaimed: "This is disgusing."

But like all art, it's in the taste of the beholder, so I didn't take it personally.

Just banned her from watching SpongeBob for a month.

8 comments:

  1. Was a huge fan of Keith Floyd and love Jamie ALSO a Nigella groupie.

    Studied cooking in SA ~ love to cook ~ so when I drag my family east side and stalk our way over what would be on the menu? I'll bring the wine.

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  2. My husband is a fan of Keith Floyd's. Glad the cat survived.

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  3. Don't be weaned off cooking. Cook away! I love Jackson Pollock's art work. HUGE fan. Of course, I don't have to eat your food, so maybe listen to your wife after all :)

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  4. Your spirit truly moves me. Do what feels right for you. It is the motto of every artist:)

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  5. Maybe your daughter meant "disgusing" as in so good it's worthy of discussing on a cooking show. Afterall, pasta and walnuts sounds delicious to me. xo

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  6. My husband and I can't both cook in the kitchen at the same time or we drive each other crazy. My husband seems to need to get every dish in the cupboard dirty just in the preparation of the food. I clean as I go, he does not. Not that it matters much, because he very rarely cooks anyway.

    Cooking is definitely an art form, I agree with you there, but I'm not that great at it, unfortunately.

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  7. I find cooking to be pretty relaxing. There is something zen about it. My favorite thing to do is sautee onions for some reason.

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  8. cool Nubian; oh yeah love Nigella too, not sure if that's because of her cooking, tho. Nice one Lynne - cat's still around, worse luck. Thanx Tabitha, yep me too. Glad your spirit moves me Olga, thanks 4 the comment. Well quite Robyn, but she looked like she been made to eat vinegar. Absolutely Daisy, can't stand anyone else in the kitchen; can't beat the bit where they go transparent, Chris.

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On Blog PTSD

Now then. What the heck. It seems I had forgotten about my blog completely rather than just neglecting it this time. To return after so long...