Sarah Discovers How to Eat – Progress Report #1

Facts and figures

To get through 385 recipes in 365 days, I need to be going at a rate of 1.05 recipes a day. It’s been 30 days, and I’ve made 41 recipes. This means I'm averaging 1.37 recipes per day, so I’m ahead of schedule. The Fast Food, Weekend Lunch, and One & Two chapters have been the most profitable so far, but now that I’ve got more time, I’m drawing a lot more from Cooking in Advance.


Hits vs. Misses

I love Nigella recipes (can you tell?), as do my family, so it’s no surprise that so far we’ve found almost everything she suggests in How to Eat to be nice, or at least edible. However, here are the ones that we weren’t overly impressed with, and thus that I’m not going to make again. They weren't shit, they just weren't great.

Chicken with Spring Onion, Chilli and Greek Yoghurt
South Beach Black Bean Soup
Chambéry Trout
Squid with Chilli and Clams

Naturally though, the hits outweigh the misses. And like I said, we tend to like Nigella’s recipes on the whole, so all the “hits” I mention are real hits – ones that brighten up people’s faces, that they can’t stop eating, that they can’t stop talking about, that they keep bugging me to make again, and that make people wonder why the hell I’m not married yet.

Fish & Porcini Pie
Basic Vanilla Ice-cream
Steak and Kidney Pie
Meatballs in Tomato Sauce
Cinnamon-hot Rack of Lamb
Cherried and Chick Pea’d Couscous
Anglicised Involtini
Pea Risotto
Pasta with Butter and Stock Cube Juices
Tagliatelle with Chicken from the Venetian Ghetto
Duck with Orange Salsa
Noodles with Spring Onions, Shitake Mushrooms and Mangetouts


How I’m feeling

So far, I feel that it's going well. I'm still excited about the whole project, and most importantly, I'm still enjoying reading How To Eat! I’ve been cooking a lot more since exams finished, but I think I’m going to have to work hard if I want to stay on schedule, as I’m now back at work, and I'm planning on taking university seriously next semester. Remember how this project started off as the "Sarah Discovers How to Procrastinate" blog?

This leads me to another problem… this is soon to become the “Sarah Discovers How to Get Very Fat” blog if I’m not careful. It’s not the recipes themselves that are so bad for you, (well, some are, especially in Nigella-quantities), but my greed and general laziness. I mean, how much of that Chocolate Surprise Pudding did I eat? I used to have exams as an excuse, but not anymore. I also tend to graze at work – a few pieces of fruit or cheese here and there, and desserts too. Why, oh why do so many of our desserts have to come in individual miniature serves? They’re just too easy to eat! I obviously can’t be on a “diet” whilst doing this project, you see, and when I’m not on a regimented diet as such, I find it difficult to limit myself. I just can’t say no. And I haven’t been going to the gym much these past couple of weeks. I’ve been sleeping late, sleeping in, going online, watching DVDs and going out.

I was really tempted to make July the low fat month, drawing exclusively from the Low Fat chapter, but have been advised to save this for later on, especially with dozens of cakes, creamy sauces, pies, crumble, jellies, puddings, stews and biscuits all still to come.

But I don’t think this necessarily has to become a problem. I’ve just got to go to the gym more (I’m so motivated, I even bought sports bras), and make a rule about food: If it’s fattening, and it’s not from How To Eat, I’m not eating it.


Anyway, enough of my problems, just thought I'd share those with you. I don't wanna do a Bree Vandercamp / Stepford Wife and try to deceive you into thinking it's all effortless (how 1970s would that be!). There is effort, but right now I'm feeling confident that I will reach my goal, and I'm enjoying the process. Hope you're all enjoying the blog!

xox Sarah