If you asked my family and friends to tell you what I like to do everyday of my life, there might be a myriad of answers but one common word is cooking. Most of them, I think by now will unanimously agree that I love to cook and share it.
For many years, my cooking was mostly limited to the weekends: low and slow stews, baking, and Sunday roasts. During the working week, I tried to be a superwoman. I remember saying to my husband, “wait till I get home and I will make dinner”! Poor him, because I never did get home early enough to cook it. When we sat down to eat it, usually it was 8pm or later. I don’t know how he put up with me all those early years of our marriage.
For nearly 20 years I worked in the financial services industry in London, enjoyed the thrill and even the long hours; days to nights and sometimes weekends. I liked being part of a large ship, even though I was just one of the crew; significant enough in a team but not quite so in the grand scheme of things. Then one day something broke. For some reason that I couldn’t put my finger on at the time, but now on hindsight it probably was burnout. Suddenly I no longer enjoyed my work but started to become fearful of every single error. I was stressed out, tearful and my brain just could not understand the simplest of tasks. I was not in a good place. Thankfully my workplace had an employee assistance programme. Along with prayerful support and wise counsel from my church family, trusted friends, a loving family plus a very supportive husband who listened to my offloading, I made a decision.
After a lot of planning I took a self imposed sabbatical. With no job to return to I used that time to explore different options. For about 14 months I exclusively focused on volunteering. I provided admin support for my church; and befriending and language interpretation assistance for a cancer charity and their patients. For about 8 months I was heavily involved in a project, planning and managing an offsite church family holiday. Separately I was also part of a team providing hospitality support for a week-long event which saw hundreds coming through the door. This time I did some marathon baking for the opening night and met one of the celebrity cooks most popularly known for her baking knowledge as well as her kindness. It was a delightful experience.
What a meaningful year that was before I put on my new chef uniform and retrained at Leiths School of Food and Wine. It was a year of self development and technical training. I knew I loved to cook, but this was a completely different understanding of good and professional standard cooking. I had to start from the basics. Flavours and techniques are built from a solid understanding of why and then how we prepare a dish in a certain way. I truly believe the core knowledge gained at Leiths made creativity possible. Their diploma and a well respected reputation in the industry certainly opened doors for me in the world of food.
After graduation, I have tried my hand on various things. I have catered for private events, staged in restaurant kitchens, dabbled in developing, testing and writing recipes, but the one area that is closest to my heart is teaching and demonstrating. I just really, really love having an audience, engaging with them, showing them a technique or two and helping them to decipher the know-how of a dish. I am very proud when my students tell me how much they have enjoyed my classes, and how I have given them confidence in cooking even without me by their side or on a virtual screen! Seeing their creations, and with pride on their faces motivates me. For me (and for them), cooking is more than the food itself, it is an act of love and generosity. When I prepare a meal, whether simple or elaborate, I am saying to someone I care about them. That is the heart of cooking. If you want to cook with me, please take a look at my classes on the website.
Gracie and Flavour was launched in mid February 2021. I teach, write, share and engage through the love of food and cooking. Looking back, I was a little uncertain and to some extent, lost as I left my office building one last time in July 2017. When I stepped across the threshold at Leiths a little over a year later, I was so eager to learn and absorb all the knowledge (and more, my clothes and hair smelt of cooking every single day). Now I am so excited to develop this new adventure of mine. I hope you will join me on this journey. I feel very blessed and I am!
Recent Comments