Ok, here we are with a quick mid-week post…

Gianni Washington (acrossthehogsback.wordpress.com) nominated me to do the #fdbloggers: Get to Know tag.

As regular readers will know, I am not a food blogger, hell, I don’t even cook much these days, but I do love food.  I even love cooking but just don’t get much time these days.  I do have a particular talent for unloading a dishwasher, but that’s another story…  I digress.

So the rules for this are that I answer certain questions, and then I post it on Twitter.  At least, I think that’s right.  So here goes:

Name: Su, Susan, Suse.

Blog: Susan Shirley – A Writer’s Blog

What was your reason for starting a blog? First thing, this wasn’t my first blog.  There is another one out there, but not in my name.  I set it up under a nom de plume because I was worried about my privacy on the internet, and that’s probably not a bad thing to worry about, given my recent track record (identity theft, credit card cloned).  When I got over that, I decided that, if I had any chance of making it as a writer, I needed an online presence.  Hence, starting my blog.

What’s the dish you’re most proud of?  I do a mean roast dinner, my roast potatoes are to die for, even though I do say it myself.  I’m also very good at adapting recipes.  I have often used Nigella’s cheese risotto (not one for Italian purists, I know, but it is very good).  I also have a good range of quick-cooks (because I used to get home from work too late to spend hours cooking, that whole Spanish eat-late doesn’t work for me).  Sorry, can’t go into too much detail because I’m working on a cook book.

What one kitchen utensil could you not live without? Tough call.  What I use most at the moment is my Nutri-bullet but I don’t think that classes as a utensil.  I think I have to go for my magic knife – it’s one of those ones that is supposed to stay sharp forever (again, not for the purists).  I use it for almost all my cutting and chopping except for peeling.

You’re stranded on a desert island.  What three ingredients do you take with you? Can I assume that there is fruit on the island?  That’s a bit of a cheat, I know, but there you go.  Bacon, eggs, olive oil.  I reckon I can manage with that and some of the greenery on the island.  I’m a very good ad lib cook.

Who do you take your inspiration from? No one person.  I’m a real Delia fan, but I also like Nigella and Jamie Oliver, and Gary Rhodes.  I’ve also learned a lot from my friend Theresa.  She’s taught me to cook a bit of Caribbean food, but more importantly, introduced me to it, I’d never really tried it before I met her.  My mum was a very good pastry cook, and I used to do that when I was married, but I honestly can’t be bothered now.

What’s your favourite social platform? I don’t have one.  I’m ambivalent about all of them.

Biggest disaster in the kitchen? Ha ha, that’s easy, although the disaster was averted.  Back in June, my friend Kate came to stay.  I bought some very good bacon (you know how so much of it has a lot of water in it?  This didn’t.) and was grilling bacon and sausages.  I line my grill with foil to make it easier to clean.  The bacon was done first, so I took the bacon off and left the sausages… All of a sudden the fat from the bacon caught fire and all of a sudden my cooker was on fire…  I know what to do in a fire, so I sorted it fairly quickly, but it took ages to clean that cooker.  That was the disaster.

Favourite spot for coffee? There is an independent cafe in St James Park underground station, Caffe Grana, it’s one of the best.

Favourite photo you’ve taken? I assume that this is meant to be related to food, not my actual favourite photo….  Does this count?

What would you say is your most successful blog post and why? I don’t really know.  Like so many other bloggers, I know people read them but don’t comment.  To be honest, I don’t check the stats often enough to know.

Nominate three food bloggers you’d like to get to know better: Sorry guys, there are no food bloggers that I read often enough.

(c) Susan Shirley 2015