For those of you that know me, you know that my Mum is a marvellous cook! I often compare her to those that graced our screens in the original few series of Masterchef, where the talent were true home cooks. She can revamp any leftover into a dish worthy of a high-class restaurant, and Sunday roast is always a spectacle of well-thought-out colour and placement. Often she will say to me “what should we have for dinner?” and I’d go blank, not being able to think of a single recipe or dish. Mum, on the other hand, would take one glance at the pantry and come up with something great. I have always imagined that she has a library of recipes in her mind for any occasion. During the first lockdown, in Australia, when I was still classroom teaching and doing the Lisette Oropesa Masterclasses, the whole family would be working from home and we’d have lunch together most days. We’d enjoy anything from a Ploughman’s board to a roast lamb, fancy cheese toasties, and high-tea. I know, I am the luckiest girl in the world to have such an amazing Mum. However, moving away from home gave me the terrifying feeling that I couldn’t do the same.

The thought of cooking for myself every day scared me. Making sure I had enough recipes to not get bored of food, not relying on Uber Eats or frozen meals – all whilst sustaining a very busy schedule. However, over the past few months I have managed to not starve myself, and quite frankly, I think I’ve done pretty well – thanks to Jamie Oliver and the odd phone-call home.

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Sure, I’ve made mistakes: starting to cook too late and then realising I don’t have any form of tomatoes for my spaghetti bolognese, not sealing up the bag of pasta correctly after said bolognese and playing a game of pick up sticks the next time I reached for the packet, and going to the supermarket and coming out with a handful of things that aren’t on my shopping list.

Some news on the laundry front, I mixed my denim jeans with light colours turning them all blue. Luckily, it is a pretty colour blue. What is the saying again? A change is as good as a holiday? I do try my best to seperate my clothes, but the laundry room is a beast of its own. 2 hour minimum wash, then a 3 hour dry. Sometimes, after 2-3 hours, I go in to check, only to realise that someone has turned my washing machine off, or the dryer isn’t working and my clothes are soaking wet. During these times, I really want to just throw the towel in, but you know what that means? More laundry!!

Last week I also managed to break my freezer door. I secured it with a hair elastic at first which didn’t work (“DUH SARAH”.). After some time sitting on my floor feeling sorry for myself, crying over all my meal-prep that was defrosting, I finally pulled up my sleeves and managed to semi-fix the door until it could be replaced. I actually used eyelash glue to stick one of the broken pieces in place – who said women can’t be glamorous and handy!? HA!

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I’ve also been in a losing battle of late with the newest Covid-19 lockdown in the UK, as all the shops have been closed. Currently we are in the final 2 weeks of rehearsals for The Cunning Little Vixen at The Royal Northern College of Music, and my schedule is a little crazy. I am at college Sunday-Friday with some days 10-5, and others until 9pm. This leaves Saturday as my only day to do groceries. However, each time I’ve attempted to go shopping I am faced with a line down the street and around the corner just to get in. Even the few times that I have managed to get in during the week, the shelves are desolate, with essential items either missing or very expensive.

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Despite everything, I have really enjoyed learning to cook over these past few months. I even purchased myself a slow cooker, which has been incredibly useful on my bigger days. I get a lot of recipes from the Slow Cooker Recipes Australia Facebook Group, if you are interested in finding some.

To finish this post, I thought I’d share a recipe of sorts – something I threw together the other day with items I just happened to have. Now, in my welcome pack at Uni I received some sweet and sour instant noodles (they are TERRIBLE and nothing like Maggi chicken noodles!). I had another packet that I was certainly not going to eat, so one night last week I came home and decided to experiment by using just the noodles (I threw out the packet powder). I added some beef stock, whatever vegetables I had in my fridge, some left over sliced up steak, half an onion, and ‘eye-balled’ some soy sauce, ginger, garlic, chilli, salt and pepper. In no time, I was eating the most delicious Beef Noodle Soup! For dessert, I made toffee banana crepes with caramel sauce, using some left over cream and a banana that was about to go bad. So, as it turns out, the apple does not fall far from the tree.

Let me know in the comments of this blog what your favourite recipes are, I’d love to try them! You can also check out some of the meals I’ve cooked in the short video below.

With love always,

Sarah Xx