Cooking with… time.

Welcome back, foodies!

Relaxed? I am.  I’m freshly back from three whole weeks of sun, surf and home cooking with my family.

“Come sons,” I’d say brightly. “While Dad’s baking the bread, why don’t we try and make some soup from the garden? Who wants to pick the veggies and who wants to pick the herbs?”

Honestly, there were moments so wholesome, I kept expecting a family movie backing track to start playing. If I wasn’t so smug about the whole thing, I would have been making myself sick. Luckily, I’ve been able to make fun of our chef Caro, who has been going through much the same thing.

Because the truth, as we all know, is that we are all better parents, cooks and people when we are relaxed and happy. We’re all so stuck in ‘quick meals’ and doing too much with too little time, that we forget how genuinely happy making cooking from first principles can be.

I know, I know. Realising this is the easy bit. It’s getting the practice to stick through the year that’s so hard.

We’ve had a thunk, and come up with some ideas for getting that to happen.

•    Ritualise a meal a week. Be it Sunday lunch or Wednesday pasta or Friday Chinese – block off some time for a good solid cook, set the table, open an extra bottle of wine and celebrate yourselves.

•    Try out something new once a month – from making samoosas to petit fours to deli artichokes… whatever. And don’t get too fashed by stuff ups, remember – this is an exploration, not a competition.

•    Get excited by what’s in season. (Hint: grapes!)

•    Get sensual. I know Nigella has cornered all the PR in this area, but have you seen the twinkle in our own Jenny Morris’s eye, when she smashes open a little lemon grass? Check her out … it’s inspiring.

•    Get sharing. One of the absolute favourite things about my job is seeing the Food24 blog community  explode with deliciousness: in terms of recipes, friendship, warmth and love.  I consider it to be the most vibrant blogging community in South Africa, and I am embarrassingly proud to be a part of it.

Hope that’s enough to get started, lovely folk. Looking forward to another delectable year ahead.

Love and lusciousness,

Sam