Hello again everyone.

It’s a strong theme of my other blog to live with no regrets. The association is usually with the bigger decisions in life, but this year I’ve also been taking on some smaller projects. In the ongoing spirit of the Do Lectures, this year there a few things that I’ve been doing rather than pondering about.

Since the beginning of the year I’ve been working on a ‘meaningful food project’. The objective is to capture the stories and recipes associated with meaningful food experiences in our family. You know how it works, over the years certain dishes get associated with particular feelings or events. Food traditions become really important in our identity and belonging. So far we’ve got 28 recipes to include.

For each one I’ve allocated 4 pages in a bound book. Page 1 is about the story – why is this food meaningful for us? Page 2 is reserved for photos. Page 3 is ingredients and 4 is method.

I decided to handwrite it rather than sanitise it digitally. The idea is to create a bit of a scrapbook rather than a polished product. Downside is that there will only be one … with 4 kids not sure how it will work, but we’ll figure that out later.

I’m not rushing it. I expect it will take a couple of years to complete. I’ve tended to fill out the pages as we happen cook a dish. Today, for example was minestrone day.

An extract goes something like this;

“When there is a pot on the stove, the house always smells good, but Maria’s minestrone takes it to another level. The deep, rich aroma from the slow cooked osso bucco and tomato broth somehow gets in your bones. Like her other Italian dishes, this food reminds us who we are and where we belong. Its good anytime of the year but especially good on a winter weekend.”

Next time I’ll share some of my feelings as I put L plates on as I teach myself French.