Frequently Asked Questions
This is part of the new design as well. I will answer some common questions I get via email and if you have anything to add - please send me a note! For conversion info, scroll down.
Where are you from?
I was born in Dublin, Ireland, but lived in Midland, Michigan in the US for four years before moving to Antwerp, Belgium for a further five years and then back to the US (Chicago, Rochester, NY and Midland again) until I moved back to Ireland in February 2005. I consider myself from Michigan, even though my passport says differently!
What's your story?
I met my husband at music school where he was studying piano and I was studying opera. After meeting one another we both went on to other things. He ended up working in the restaurant business as a fine dining manager and I went into financial customer service at a Fortune 500 company. We decided to move back to Ireland two years ago. We were to run a restaurant in Mayo, but due to circumstances beyond our control the deal fell through after we had moved here! We had sold everything to get here and as such, couldn't exactly go back, so we figured we'd give it a go! We have two daughters - Ciara is two and Ella is almost four. This makes my food adventures quite intriguing as they have very different tastes, but I love finding things that work for them both.
How did you start cooking?
When I think about this I come to two conclusions. When I was a teenager I dabbled in vegetarianism for about three years. Both my parents were working at the time, and although they were very good about still getting us homecooked meals, they just didn't have time to do a separate vegetarian meal, especially when they knew it was likely to be just a phase. As a result I did a lot of my own cooking. And for the record it was the smell of bacon frying that brough me back to the dark side! :)
The second reason stems out of sheer necessity! When I moved in with my husband his fridge consisted of frozen ravioli and power bars... that would never do! Luckily my Mom is a good cook and had instilled some basics in me. I started off small with chicken curries and the like until I discovered Paul's grandmother's copy of The Joy of Cooking
What's with the title?
It's supposed to be ironic - as I'm anything but humble and I'm a horrific housewife. I mean really... do humble folks blog? ;-) I guess I struggle a lot with being a housewife, as previously I was the main breadwinner. It's been a huge adjustment for me and one I keep working on, so I guess the title is there to inspire me a bit and make me laugh!
What are your favourite cook books?
The Joy of Cooking
Do you read any cooking magazines?
Ugh... just ask my coffee table! YES! I especially like BBC Good Food, Delicious, and Intermezzo.
How often do you cook?
Every single day, three times a day! I'm a housewife... I really have no excuse not to! :-) If we do eat out for dinner I'll make sure we get at least a home cooked lunch and breakfast!
What's your favourite food?
ooh... that's a tough one! I love seafood, so probably something with crab or lobster... although I'm also a bit of a pork fiend... and I do like game... oh dear! Any of the above! :-) As far as dessert goes Gordon Ramsay's Chocolate Fondant hands down. It's incredible, easy to make and simply devoon!
What's your favourite thing to cook?
Tapas! I love making hors d'oevres and tapas type things. I used to cater a lot of parties where we did this. Drinks and hors d'oevres, what could be better?
Can you convert your recipe to US or metric measures for me?
You will notice if you've been around here awhile that I use both metric and US/cup measurements. I must receive about five emails a week asking me to convert a recipe to the alternate method. I just don't have the time to keep doing this, especially when it is so easy to do it yourself with google. I don't recommend converting grams into cup measures, but rather dry weight ounces. You could then pour it into a cup and write down the measurement for future reference. There is a HUGE difference between fluid ounces used for cup measurements and dry ounces. To convert grams or milileters to ounces / fluid ounces, use Google. For example, just type in "Convert 250g to ounces" and hit search and you will have your answer.
Remember that a US cup measure if 8 fluid ounces. If you are in Europe, just use a pyrex jug and fill to the eight ounce level! 3/4 cup is 6 ounces and so on down.
450g is roughly 1lb and 1kg is 2.2lb.
You can download a nifty desktop tool to do most of your kitchen conversions for you here.
Will you link to my blog?
If your blog is relelvant to mine and interesting to me I may add it to my blog roll. It is considered bad form to request a link via email, but especially via comments, but if you have a relevant blog, feel free to email me and I will take a look. If it's interesting I might add it to my feed reader for a few weeks and if I still like it I might add you to the blogroll. 95% of the blogs on my blog roll are blogs I read actively, even if I don't always comment.
Will you review stuff for me?
Yep - check out the FAQ on my review blog for more details.
Can I post your recipe on my blog?
Sure, if you've tried it and want to share it with your readers. I would also appreciate it if you could do the honourable thing and link back to me. Please do not hotlink to my photos though.
I've tagged you for a meme, when will you reply?
I'll be honest, I hate memes. Unless it's something really new and different I am very unlikely to respond. Please don't take this personally, as I am flattered you mentioned me, it's just not my thing. The big exception would be foodie memes!
Do you have a comment policy?
I feel strongly that commenting should be free and open, as it's part of what makes blogging such a unique medium. Even if I completely disagree with you, I won't be deleting comments, unless they are racist, inappropriate, offensive to regular readers or libelous. I would appreciate it if you could refrain from coarse language... something I have to remind myself of too! :)
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