2. Blog: A Slice of Cherry Pie

What inspires you to write a food blog?

I’ve been passionate and excited about food and cooking for many years, and when I first discovered food blogs I knew straight away that this would be the perfect outlet for me. As well as bringing out my creative side, blogging enables me to connect with people all over the world who share my passion.

Food brings people together, no matter where in the world they are, or from what walk of life, and the internet, and blogging, makes that happen on a scale we could never before have dreamt possible.

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I’m now working on my first cookbook, based on the blog, which is due to be published next year. It’s a wonderful opportunity that may never have come about if it hadn’t been for the blog.

What sort of posting (good or bad) really gets your readers excited?

I think my readers like to learn with me as I go along and so my first-time experiences always go down well, such as my Frog’s Legs Social Experiment and An Encounter with a Lobster.

I’m often surprised by the recipes that people really take to. This Steak and Camembert Pancake recipe was just something I threw together mid-week with very little thought, and I was quite taken aback by the good reaction it got and that people tried it straight away.

Which cookbook can you not do without and which chef is your hero/heroine?

One book that does stand out, I guess out of nostalgia as I don’t use it so much these days, is The Good Housekeeping Cookery Book. It was first published in 1948 and has been updated regularly through the years. It was the first cookbook I ever bought and is full of classic, trusty recipes and all the very English ones I grew up with, such as Toad in the Hole, fruit crumbles, Victoria sponge cake and stew and dumplings.

Turning to chefs, Nigella Lawson, Jamie Oliver and Nigel Slater have all inspired me; I love their laid-back approach to cooking. I also like Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s way of cooking seasonally and frugally with nose-to-tail cooking, and I think James Martin is a brilliant pastry chef - have you seen what he can do with spun sugar?

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