Food Glorious Food

There are only two things in this world that I'm half decent at: Photography and cooking.

While every week I have a camera in my hand for hours on end, I don't very often have a whisk or other such cooking implement in my hand. Cooking, or baking, is something that only happens every now and then.

This week after a conversation about food, I ended up making two different types of cookies that actually turned out to be more cake like biscuits. They were cranberry and white chocolate and apple and oatmeal. They seemed to go down very well at the rink on Sunday when I took them in, so the fact that they went a bit wrong doesn't really matter. I went out with nearly 30 and back with just 3.

I do like a bit of cooking. I enjoy making things that are not of this country. So when I do cook, I make things like Moroccan fish and chips, Swedish potato gratin, Aardsppeltaart (Belgian potato tart) or Italian pea and herb risotto. I once made Oravska pochutka, which is a Slovakian style sausage and potato casserole which mainly seemed to be made up of sauerkraut.

Obviously, I like making sweet things too. Cheesecake is what I really to make, not the type that you leave to set in the fridge, but the baked kind. The last one I made was New York style, I'm not sure what made it American. Another American dessert I've made in the past has been Grasshopper Pie, called so because of the green food colour added to it.
I've made various other things too like Boterkoek (Dutch butter cake), Appelkoek (Dutch apple cake) and Koggetjes (Amsterdam caramel cookies).

I tend not to make cakes, not even for birthdays. Instead I make other sweet treats. This year I made a Scandinavian tea ring for my mum, and a Tarte aux pommes a la Normande (Normandy apple tart) for my dad.

What I really love to make is bread. I could make a new loaf of bread every week! So far I've made:

• Rugbrød, Scandinavian rye bread
• Jarlsberg vri brød, Jarlsberg twist bread. Jarlsberg is a Norwegian cheese.
• Pan rustico, rustic Spanish bread. When making this you have to leave the yeast to ferment for 24 hours.
• Kartoffelbrot, German potato bread

There are a few other breads that I really want to make. One of which is 'slow bread', this is a bread that is left to rise for 48 hours in a cool place.

No doubt when I make any more sweet things or breads I'll break my camera out and have another go at food photography.

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