Decisions decisions....

A very special friend coined the term Gourmet Girlfriend for me many many years ago as I was her "go to " for all things to do with cooking and has been bugging me to do something with it or a LONG time......so here goes!

To fill you in so far.....Gourmet Girlfriend is happily espoused to Hubby G for 23 years and now enjoy the company of our fabulous five boys aged 11, 9, 7, 3 & 1. Living out the traditional marriage of man at work and woman at work too but at home tending the flock.

Every week day in our house starts with me making a LARGE bowl of coffee and then onto the daily routine of me trying to get 3 out 5 of my boys off to school -why is it that young children only EVER sleep in on week days?- anyway....once they are all dispatched (hopefully all in one piece) it is on to what is generally the biggest decision of my day- Oh the STRESS!!- what is for dinner?
Stressful because I LOVE cooking and because I score myself as a mother on providing a nutritious and delicious meal to my children and to hubby EVERY day. Yep call me stupid if you like but I just can't help myself!


Since I have become so time poor- having 5 young children would be the cause if you didn't work that one out yourself- I have shifted my creative self from other artistic pursuits to using cooking as my sole creative outlet. Being in the kitchen is my little private idaho- even though it is anything but!- where I am able to fool myself into believing that I am doing something lovely for myself. There a VERY few times this doesn't work and I can safely spend time in my kitchen sanctuary all day long blissfully ignoring the fact that there are four million other chores in the house that require URGENT attention!


There are two important rules that keep me sane in amongst it all- No. 1: ALWAYS maintain a sense of humour and No.2: Embrace chaos.

So while i while away the hours in the kitchen I also love to investigate music and play it VERY loud often! I will share some of my favourites with you over time.

So to tonight's dinner......feeling traditional tonight so Corned beef is on the menu ( I use a fave Karen Martini recipe that comes from this very well worn book of cut-out recipes)

.....but I will serve it with a fresh horseradish sauce for a bit of oomph- freshly plucked from the garden. The horseradish that is....not the cow!

And as I cook today i'm listening to the lovely hubby/Wife duo from NY: Dean & Britta.



Join me on my journey......