People have always asked me why I became a chef? The answer is probably because of my Mum and my late father. They were both always in the kitchen cooking up a storm browsing through either supercook magazines or old fashioned cordon blue books, "which are still used to this day". I remember fond times as a little boy when my Mum let me do the normal things in the kitchen like licking the raw cake batter off the spoon and making jelly in moulds, racing cars and teddy bears, milky jelly being a firm favourite and banana splits. I remember the banana being cut in half and resting in a glass boat dish, the neapolitan ice cream, squirty cream and 100's and 1000's, the ones with all the artificial colours that drove kids insane. I was always brought up around food and cooking. Mum and Dad used to cook elaborate dishes spending hours in the kitchen, especially at Christmas. I especially remember my Mum bringing out a fantastic crown of lamb from the kitchen and another of me holding the first cake I made, I must have only been seven. My Mum also used to work as a cook for a recording studio in Cookham near Maidenhead. She prepared the food at home and then took it to the Mill studio where she finished it and served it to a number of bands such as Gilbert O' Sullivan, Twisted Sister, Climax Blues band to name a few. For my mum this was like being a private chef back in the 80's. With all this involvement I suppose it was only natural to follow in my mum's footsteps for my career in later life, and here I am now writting my first blog on my private chef website. I look back and think "Thanks mum and dad", thanks for all the support, time and patience you've given me during my career.
