To explain to you what the weekly feast is all about and how the challenge came to be I think I first need to explain my, let's call it, collective nature. This I am sure I inherited from my Dad, who coincidentally inherited it from his parents, so I guess you could say it is all my Nan and Pa's fault! Their home is a treasure trove of all kinds of collections. Family heirlooms, books, trinkets, clothes, anything really that might have another use or mean something special to somebody. This makes it sound kind of like a hoarders home, the truth is it is far from it. Everything has a place and it is one of the most homely places I know. I have so many happy and fond memories of exploring the nooks and crannies of that house. Tinkering in the shed with my Dad and Pa, playing hide and seek with cousins, sitting in the kitchen while my Nan cooked delicious goodies from her hand written recipes.
Now like I said this love of collecting was inevitably passed onto my Dad. His collecting takes on a slightly different direction. Hot rods and car building. Our family hot rod was built by him, in a dirt floor shed, from things he had collected over the years for this very reason. But of course one car wasn't enough and he is still collecting bits and pieces for his many projects. He is also the kind of man which you can bring any problem or broken item to and he will either know just how to fix it, generally with something he had kept for just such an occasion, or he will refuse to rest until he can.
My collecting is a little more eclectic. VW beetles have long been a love of mine. For many years birthdays and Christmas weren't complete without at least one beetle to add to my collection, culminating with the car I learnt to drive in being a VW beetle rag-top. It was like a dream come true! These days I collect many things including nail polish, dresses, fabric, flamingoes and of course recipe books.
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| Lolita. The gorgeous bug I learnt to drive in. |
Recipe books are one of my biggest weaknesses and let's not even mention the 1500 + recipes I have saved on Pinterest or the dozens I have saved on my iPad, phone and laptop. I love the variety of ideas different people have for the same ingredient or dish. I love the pictures. I love flipping through other peoples recipes and judging their favourites by the amount of food spilt on the pages. The problem, however, is that I have a terrible habit of finding recipes, drooling over them, thinking about them and then adding them to the collection and forgetting to actually cook them! And that is why The Weekly Feast challenge was created. After buying myself three new recipe books with Christmas present money and adding them to my ever growing collection I realised I had to do something. I ran the idea past some friends who loved it. I then tentatively mentioned the idea of blogging about it to keep myself accountable. Well they haven't stopped hassling me to get started since then, so I think it's safe to say they liked the idea!
Ok, so you are probably still wondering exactly what the challenge is. For the remainder of this year, 2015, I pledge to cook at least one new recipe from my collection every week. I will then blog about it here, letting you know about the recipe, whether or not it was a hit and, I guess, any other thoughts I have.
