The Ego Has Landed! Boo Yeah!

Not many people know me well. I’m a pretty private kind of guy with a narrow focus of interests. Those who do know me, know that I am not big on self promotion. I rarely coddle myself with dramatic expressions of ego centric boastfulness or vulgar displays of self-congratulatory indulgence.

By writing this blog, I have allowed a certain number of you to lift a small corner of the dark shroud that envelops my being. That comfort blanket that has protected me from slights and emotional injury has been raised ever so slightly. I have been nervous about it being lifted. I have viewed each comment on my various posts with foreboding, nervous that more of my inner self will be exposed. All that was until late last week……

The Mainland – Roast Rib of Beef and Yorkshire Pudding.

I’m an Irishman and proud of it. I am married to an English lady. These are both good things on a number of levels: She has put up with me for over 20 years. We have two mostly wonderful daughters. Because of her origins, I can get away with stuff others can not. I can talk in slightly derogatory and jocular tones about ‘The Brits’ and excuse myself by admitting to being happily married to one.

Demarcating the internet for everybody’s benefit.

My eldest is very competitive. Some say, too competitive. When she started her travel blog, Shallow Pockets Travel, I helped her out where I could. I learned a lot by the process. In fact, that is what prompted me to start this blog. My experience previously was restricted to our company blog at advertising.ie.

For a time, all went along well. Eldest daughter (ED) enthused about her latest post and numbers of hits and so forth. I offered fatherly encouragement to her endeavor. Meanwhile, I quietly worked away cooking, photographing, writing and posting in my free time. All was well in our little blogosphere and in our home. Or was it?

Lisa saves the day. Seafood Risotto with Asparagus Spears.

I had a post written and ready to go. Ready to go that is except that I needed a top quality rib joint to prepare, roast, photograph and serve to my review group (mother, wife, eldest & youngest daughters). Then all I had to do was add in the recipe bit and the photos to the meat of my writing, as it were. They were looking forward to something special. They are a loving bunch but to my personal chagrin they have got used to getting their own way on the food front…

Bambi gets what’s coming to him….

I want you to imagine my youngest daughter. She is an innocent thing who likes small animals and fluffy things. She loves Disney cartoons. One of her favourites is Bambi. She finds the various scenes of innocence touching. When she watches it, she will be heard to say things like “Ahhh, so pretty.” and “Ohhhh, aren’t the chipmunks so cute.”

I am telling you all this because I recently suggested that I cook a rabbit stew for the family. This led to the following unfortunate conversation:

The vegetarian takes a bite out of me.

“Meat, meat, meat! Is that all you can blog about. What about the vegetarians out there in Internet land? Surely there is more to life than meat? Why can’t you do something for them too?”

Beauty and the Cha Shao Beef

In the fairytale, Beauty falls in love with the Beast, without knowing that inside the outer ugliness was the handsome prince of her dreams. It is a bit like my Cha Shao Roast Beef, crispy and crusty on the outside with lean deliciousness within.

The Beast, on the other hand, saw Beauty and immediately fell deeply in love with her and her obvious charms. It’s a bit like that with me and Bill Granger‘s wonderful Mango Pudding. It was love at first bite.