I can’t believe almost three months have gone by since my last blog!! Lockdown is creating a bizarre feeling of time. It’s sometimes difficult to remember what life before lockdown was like, it often seems like years ago. Whilst now five months on we have created new routines, and life is speeding along fast. Food has continued to help to keep me and Thomas sane and has given us some sense of normality. Here’s what we’ve been up to.

Cooking Videos:

After weeks of pressure from friends and family, me and Thomas finally got round to making some lockdown cooking videos!

It’s not the first time I’ve made food videos. With the help of friends Mark and Andrew, over the past few years we have made some Christmas recipe videos, which were really good fun making. These videos you mostly only saw my hands speeded up with music playing over.

For the lockdown videos I decided to go full out with real cooking demonstrations. I wanted to cook recipes that were quick, easy to make, and used limited ingredients. Arranging the kitchen was important to get the set up right and to make filming easy. I pulled out our kitchen prep table so that I could stand behind it and be face on whilst cooking and talking. I also brought in my camping stove, that I’ve used at my supper clubs, and placed it on the prep table so everything was in the one location.

All chopping was done in advance, this helped to keep the videos shorter and I find chopping boring to watch (unlike Thomas who could spend all day watching someone chopping 🤣).

So here’s the final video (below) of Mushroom Stroganoff on Toast! There is another one on Quesadillas that I need to get round to editing!

Making Use of the Garden:

The mixture of rain and sun has really brought our garden to life over the past few months. Seedlings that were grown indoors during February and March were planted out early June, and we now have some well established vegetables growing. In our large wooden planters we have Cabbages, Sweetcorn, Spring Onions, Leeks, Courgettes and Celeriac. There’s also a herb garden with Basil, Parsley, Sage and Strawberries. In separate pots there are Fennel, Mint, Bay Leaves, Tomatoes and Chillies. The vegetables and Strawberries should be ready to eat in by September/October time, whilst the herbs we are already enjoying!

Last week we had our first guests, Cath & Justin, round for an outdoor meal in the garden. It was lovely being able to entertain again. Having an 8ft picnic table helped the four of us maintain a social distance!

Picnic at the Beach:

As May brought about some welcomed lockdown restrictions easing a day out at the beach was top of the list! We joined my brother John and wife Olivia, along with friends Mark and Gary, for a social distance picnic at the beach. It was made possible of course as each couple drove to the East Yorkshire coast separately. Fraisthorpe Beach on a Monday was our choice. We knew it had a wide beach and Monday’s likely to be much quieter than the weekend. We had such a good time, it was wonderful catching up and being outdoors. A swim in the cold North Sea was enjoyed by all, you soon warm up after a few minutes in there!

Leeds Living Reviews:

Me and Thomas have both been continuing to write food reviews for Leeds Living, trying to do our best to support Leeds independent food businesses where we can. Check out the links below to read these reviews.

Banh & Mee, Corner Cafe & Bundobust Review:

https://leedsliving.co.uk/food-drink/some-of-leeds-food-favourites-are-back-in-one-way-or-another/

The Swine that Dines Review:

https://leedsliving.co.uk/food-drink/the-swine-that-dines-at-home/

Recipes for Sharing:

We could write an entire cook book on the food we have eaten and enjoyed during lockdown! Keep posted for a few recipe blogs over the next few months. Ooh, and we’ve just bought a woodfire pizza oven, more on that next time! In the meantime, keep safe and of course keep alert! 🤣

x The Messy Cook x