James's blog: The Great British Bake Off

Everyone in our family is talking about it.  The cupboards in our kitchen are stocked with ingredients which, six months ago, I never knew existed.  I’ve been practicing my technical, signature and show-stopper dishes.  Thankfully, however, this Great British Bake Off has not been marred by the controversy of ‘bingate’.

A few months ago my wife pointed out to me that I had never cooked anything for our young daughter.  That’s not to say that I had no involvement at all in helping my wife to make healthy meals for her to enjoy.  I had helped out blending food into an unidentifiable mush during the initial weaning stage, and had subsequently spent what felt like hours chopping ingredients into microscopic pieces in the hope of eliminating any choking hazards.  To be truthful, though, I found this process rather tedious, and so it was true that I had abdicated responsibility for this aspect of my daughter’s wellbeing to Mum.

I was about to have a few months off work on sabbatical, however, and it was clear from my wife’s tone that any continued shirking from this responsibility would not cut mustard.  I therefore stocked up with books full of healthy recipes for toddlers, and added the Annabel Karmel website to my ‘favourites’.  I took over responsibility for the online grocery shop.  I spent hours on the phone to my parents and my mother-in-law asking them to explain what was meant by strange terms such as ‘blanch’, ‘fold’ and ‘proof’.  And then I began to cook.  And cook.  And cook.

There’s something very satisfying and rewarding about having my daughter enjoy something that I’ve cooked for her from scratch.  Admittedly, it’s also completely infuriating when she refuses to even try something when I have spent hours preparing it (and even longer washing up afterwards).  Luckily, however, there have been more successes than rejections, and we’ve now had to buy a second freezer to store all of the meals I’ve prepared for our little one.

My successes in the kitchen have led me to wonder what other things I could turn my hand to making for my daughter.  And so, next weekend we’re off to Hobbycraft to see whether I can face learning how to knit or make a quilt.  I’ll let you know how I get on with my new hobbies...

James is in his early 30s and father to a beautiful one year old girl.  He works in the legal profession but will be taking a sabbatical when his wife returns to work from maternity leave, to provide childcare and spend the summer with his daughter, before returning to the office at the end of the year.