Re-visiting my relationship with Food

As I mentioned on day eleven, food has always been nurturing for me, as well as my expression of creating in the Kitchen. Food helps me create, mix, blend, combine art on a plate, as well as connecting me to my depths. For me, when I am feeling in need of a hug or a lift, food is one of the ways I do this. I create meals that not only look good on a plate but also use a wide palette of colours, carefully blended flavours and textures and often share my creations on facebook with my friends.

I love to learn new recipes and then de-construct them, alter them and share them with friends. Sharing my food creations with friends is really what food is about, giving a part of you to others and watching them enjoy. Sometimes the silence of enjoyment is incredibly loud and at other times the cacophony of noises coming from around the table is like a symphony of music. I guess in that respect food really is the music of love.

My Spinach, Ricotta and chives with grilled vine leaf, cherry tomatoes on spelt and sourdough bread with a pomegranate salad dressing is no exception to that rule, it's quite the breakfast dish to serve or even as a light lunch. It's clean, fresh and dances on the tongue with its combination of flavours and textures. Great start to any day or as brunch, when you a hearty cleanse is required and a boost to the day. It always gets me going.

Then there are soups. Soups have been my go to remedy for a hug and nurturing. Originally being from the UK, soups and casseroles were traditionally served in my household throughout the dark, damp, winter months, always warming and comforting and that's still how I associate with soup. In my dark days, the days where it's a struggle to find joy in anything or even when I feel physically ill, soup has been my pick-me-up. They are so simple to do and the combinations are countless but I always feel like I have had the best hug ever and it raises my spirit. It's the one thing I can eat when I really don't feel like anything, so I always make sure I have some home-made soup around for just such occasions. It's good to know I can grab a hug, when I feel like one.

There's nothing quite like a good curry to blast away ills, to feel nurtured, warmed throughout and to awaken the senses. I love curries; Indian, Thai, Malaysian and Cambodian to name a few distinct flavours. i love making them, especially from scratch. Whenever, I have gone on holiday, I can get quite adventurous, trying new foods and flavour combinations, to open my mind to new recipes and evoke memories of a time away from home. Creating recipes that I have had in different countries throughout my travels, re-connects me to that place, the memories, sights, smells and feelings. What better way to help raise vibrations than by creating food that brings back good memories and transports you back to a time and place? I can't think of a better way. That's why sometimes, I put my camera away and just observe connect with the sights and smells and get in touch with my depths. It's an immense joy when a recipe you create in your kitchen takes you to those places, when it matches your memory of that taste.

Curries have also been my go to recipe for when I have cold and coughs, just like soups, not only does it nurture you but it also blasts away the grottiness of coughs and colds. I am able to increase the intensity of the spices heat in the curries during these times, as I can't taste how hot it is. The heat increase literally purges the cold or cough out of me and I recover a lot quicker. Other times, I have curries to lift and boost my spirits.

Then there are desserts! As previously mentioned I have been changing my eating habits and becoming Vegetarian for health reasons. During my absence from blogging and withdrawing privately, I hadn't quite made the full transition. I was invited out during this time to go to one of my favourite places to eat - the Innocent Bystander in Healesville, Victoria. They do create some sumptuous dishes. Great choice and they work with local producers as well as producing some of their own fine wines and alcoholic beverages through the micro brewery, which is part of their restaurant.

Normally when eating out I struggle to eat more than a main but this time, one dessert caught my eye - their Flourless Chocolate cake! Since, I moved to Australia, I have to say, I have been disappointed with most dessert offerings in restaurants, it's rare I find one that I want to try and in the UK, Chocolate cakes have been my downfall, in fact desserts with Chocolate full stop bar Chocolate Ice-cream and Black Forest Gateaus. When I have found one however, it has exceeded my expectations and the Innocent Bystander excelled themselves with this truly orgasmic Flourless Chocolate cake - when I say I nearly re-created the scene from 'When Harry net Sally' you may have some idea just how good this was!

I know have a challenge though. I love making desserts, especially Chocolate mousse, cheesecakes, curds etc but most recipes require sugar and I have made a concerted effort to eradicate sugar out of my diet and keep it in its natural format as much as possible via fruit and honey etc. Now, I am looking at natural alternatives that I can cook with, so I can re-create my favourite desserts that me and my friends love eating.

So, food for me is my creative expression on a plate the very thing that is a true connection to the depths of me, as well as being my undoing through ecstasy in tasting the full gamut of the amazing flavour and texture combinations. Quite simply, it excites me, it moves me, I get it and it gets me.

Photographs by Andrea George using a Nikon Coolpix P520