Disaster, Fiasco, Surrender and Success (Cooking/Relationships it's all the Same Thing)

One of the best things about writing a cookbook is creating new recipes and boy oh boy what a buzz it is when they turn out, on the other hand when you have a pot full of disaster and the recipe has not gone to plan it feels pretty ordinary. This week I had two cooking disasters
(both new recipes I had never cooked before) and two successes
(one new recipe I recently devised, today in fact, and one I had created a little while ago.

The first recipe disaster was coconut cream custard, the thought was good but the outcome was bad, very very bad (think coconut-flavoured scrambled eggs, yuck). The second disaster was gluten free hot cross buns. Now Easter is looming and I thought I would try to devise a gluten free hot cross bun recipe that reminded me of the hot cross buns I miss so much. That distinct smell of spices and fruit that leaves you salivating when you walk past any bakery in the lead up to Easter. I tried my hand at replicating that wonderful memory of delicious hot cross buns and well, shall we say it didn't go quite to plan. The aroma was there
(tick) and the colour was there (tick) and that is about all that was there, as when I put one to my mouth and took a bite it was like biting in to a nerf ball and the taste wasn't quite there either. My husband walked into the kitchen quite excited at the thought of hot cross buns as the smell had permeated throughout the entire house but when I picked one up and bounced it off the bench he said he would pass and promptly left the kitchen. I thought maybe I could use the bouncy hot cross buns as stress balls or paper weights but common sense prevailed and they ended up in the bin and not on Pinterest hahahaha. I would usually feel quite bad when I have a cooking disaster but this time I didn't feel as bad and had a bit of a laugh and that was pretty good considering the cooking disasters were one day straight after the other. It was good I decided to see the funny side of this as I am sure there will be plenty more cooking disasters in the lead up to the book.

The two cooking successes were very good timing as there was one before the disaster and one after so it softened the blow so to speak. The first success was my roast pumpkin and carrot soup, and let me tell you it is divine. I really look forward to putting this recipe in the cookbook as I am sure many people will enjoy it and it has no cream in it yet tastes lovely and creamy so it's good for the waistline. The second success is a citrus and strawberry slice and it is really lovely and my husband is very happy indeed (not a nerf ball in sight hahaha). I must remember to write the recipe down as it will be a crowd pleaser for sure.

I mentioned cooking and relationships being similar and I will tell you why. Because both need good ingredients, both take lots of hard work, both need love and nurturing and both can leave you either full of love and happiness or anger and sadness. I have had experiences this week with both cooking and relationships pulling at the heart strings and also bringing me joy and I guess that's life and we wouldn't have it any other way. If you are a parent you will definitely know about your heartstrings being pulled but you will also know the amazing feeling of great love and joy you feel when you look at your child no matter how old they are.

With great pain comes great pleasure and so it goes and who wants to put a plain bit of gluten free bread in their mouth when they can bite a slice of citrus strawberry slice and have your taste buds doing a dance? In other words, life would be pretty dull and bland without spice and citrus and amazing produce to cook with and it would be dull in life without taking a chance and putting ourselves out there to experience love, which leaves us open for great pain but I wouldn't have it any other way.