Toast

The vignette above is from an old sketch book of Alex in the kitchen. She is an excellent cook and one of the reasons we don’t go out that often is because it is difficult to find somewhere to eat that provides better food than she can cook. We used to like going to the Angel Vaults Restaurant in Carmarthen but that closed down. Actually our son in law at one point ran the Angel Vaults when it was still a pub.

Anyway about cooking I am useless. When it comes to food Alex waits on me hand and foot (funny saying that I am not sure where it originates).

I do a good selection of household chores but avoid the cooking variety. I always thought why cook when you have a top quality chef on the household staff? However about 15 years ago I gave in to the sexual equality jibes and decided to have a go for the sake of peace and quiet!

Alex bought me Delia Smith’s first recipe book and the kids bought me a timer in the shape of a cow that went “moo”.
Fine I thought I will teach myself to be a cook. I am a methodical person and like to perfect things before I move on. I decided to work through the book from begining to end in sequence perfecting my offerings as I went. It started off first page with toast, which actually is not straightforward. To get it crunchy not soggy and the right colour requires a little skill. Next page was omelette this wasn’t right first time so the following day I tried again, better but not perfect. By the end of the week I was turning out reasonable omelettes but not perfect. I turned a page and moved on to egg custard.

I was starting to hear moans “not omelette again and oh egg custard for pudding”. You know children can be so ungrateful. I think Alex could see where this was going and called a halt to it before everyone’s digestive system came to a stop.

So my brief flurry as a cook came to an abrupt end. I am not disappointed (and neither is anyone else).