1. What made you teach yourself how to cook?

I was brought up on traditional English cooking and when I started to cook for myself, it was those dishes that I was familiar with that I first learned to master, but I was also keen to branch out and experience new ingredients and flavors. I found that there was so much I hadn’t yet come across and so much to learn; there was a whole new culinary world out there of which I had only explored a tiny patch. I started buying cookbooks, reading food magazines and watching television programs, trying out what I was reading and hearing about in my own little kitchen. I found the whole journey so exciting and liberating, even more so once I had the basics under my belt and I started to be more intuitive with my cooking, trying different ingredient combinations, experimenting and coming up with my own recipes. The more I learned, the more I wanted to learn. I love the creative process of making wonderful dishes out of just a few simple ingredients.

The great thing for me is that I’m still on this journey; there is always something new to discover, a new ingredient combination, a different technique, a new take on an old recipe, which keeps things fresh and interesting. It can never get boring!

2.What benefits have you received by being passionate about good food and home cooking?

On a practical note it means that I’m able to feed myself and my family good, nutritious and balanced meals that keep us healthy and happy, and I can cook up good food for friends. I get a great deal of pleasure out of those things.

I love the creative process of cooking; I’m a very creative person and cooking, and developing my own recipes, allows me to explore and express that creativity. I work as an IT project manager for my day job and cooking is so far removed from that so it gives me a fantastic outlet and way of unwinding after a hard day in the office. It is not only cooking and recipe developing that I love but also writing about food. And what has been really great is that I’ve been able to turn it into a second career, writing my own cookbook that is due to be published this summer.

I also find it wonderful that there are so many people out there who share my interest, people who I’ve connected with and become friends with. I find that there are very few people who aren’t interested in talking about food and cooking on some level.

3. What tips can you give our readers on how to self learn cooking?

I think it’s all about trying things out and not being afraid to give things a go and risk making mistakes, because that’s how you’ll learn. Get yourself one or two good, comprehensive cookbooks that cover the types of meals you like to eat and the sort of things you’re likely to want to cook. And use the Internet; there are so many incredible resources out there and really interesting blogs and websites that you can learn from. Google can be like your very own cooking instructor! Once you’ve got the basics under your belt you can start playing around with recipes and experimenting, and that’s where the real fun starts.

4. By learning everything on your own, which factors do you think made you a great cook?

I think that, by learning on your own, you develop your own way of doing things and your own style. You can pick and choose what you want to learn and take the bits you like the best from different styles of cooking and different recipes. I also think you become a much more intuitive cook by working with the ingredients and getting to know them yourself, and by using your own judgment as to what to add to a dish and when it’s cooked to your own liking.

5. Can you name some recipes which are your own creations?

Slow Roasted Belly of Pork with Puy Lentils

Belly of pork is, as you would expect, cut from the underside of the pig and it's the cut used to make streaky bacon and the Italian pancetta. It's also the cut that spare ribs come from. It is a fatty cut but when you roast it slowly over a few hours most of the fat renders away leaving you with wonderfully succulent and flavorsome meat.

Serves 4

For the Pork
A large slab of belly of pork, approximately 1.5kg, skin scored
200ml Marsarla
300ml chicken stock
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 onion, halved and sliced
A sprig of thyme
Sea salt

For the Puy Lentils
Olive oil
1 garlic clove, crushed
200g Puy lentils
500ml chicken stock

Preheat the oven to 230 C.?Pat the skin of the pork dry and then rub it generously with sea salt. Put it into a roasting tray and into the oven for ½ hour. After this time add the Marsarla, chicken stock, garlic, onion and thyme to the tray and turn the oven down to 150 C. Cook the pork for a further 2½ hours. You shouldn’t need to top up the stock during the cooking time but check it once or twice and if it does run low top it up with a little more stock or water.

Start making the lentils about half an hour before the end of the pork cooking time. Drizzle a little olive oil into a pan and heat it over a low medium heat. Add the garlic and sauté it for a minute then add the lentils and chicken stock, along with a little of the liquid from the roasting tray the pork is in. Bring the stock up to the boil and simmer the lentils for approximately 20 minutes, until they are al denté – still with a bite in the middle.? Serve slices of the pork on a bed of the lentils.

Note: the lentils with the pork are very filling so you don't really need a large amount, but if you prefer more simply double the recipe.

http://asliceofcherrypie.blogspot.com/2010/01/snow-days.html

This one is from my forthcoming cookbook:

Watermelon, Blueberry and Mint Salad

This is a sweet yet refreshing salad, quite lovely when the sun is shining. The orange flavor is fairly subtle, you probably wouldn’t even taste it if you didn’t know it was there, but it helps to bring out the flavor of the watermelon and blueberries and gives them a delicately sweet, glossy coating.

Serves 4-6

1/2 watermelon
200g blueberries
Juice of 1 orange
2 tablespoons of caster sugar
A handful of fresh mint leaves, chopped

Using a sharp knife carefully remove the skin of the watermelon. Chop the flesh into bite sized pieces and put it into a big bowl along with the blueberries.

Heat the orange juice and sugar to bring it up to a boil and then gently simmer it, stirring occasionally, until it reduces by half and is a little syrupy. Allow it to cool and then pour it over the fruits, tossing them to cover them all in it.

You can serve the salad straight away but it’s even better if left for half an hour or so to let the flavors further develop.

Sprinkle the mint over just before serving.

http://asliceofcherrypie.blogspot.com/2009/08/sneak-peak-at-cookbook.html

6. What advice can you give our readers on how to be a successful food blogger?

I think it’s important to be true to yourself, to find your own voice and to write about the things you want to write about and what makes you happy. Keep at it, post regularly and keep things interesting by varying what you write about and the type of posts you blog. And get to know your fellow food bloggers; read their blogs, leave them comments, interact over Twitter and email. The UK Food Bloggers Association (www.ukfba.co.uk) is a great place to chat with fellow bloggers, particularly those who are based in the UK, although non-UK based bloggers (and non-bloggers) are welcome to join the association too.

7. How do you make your home cooking experience relaxing?

I find the act of cooking relaxing in itself; the chopping, the stirring, the whisking. It’s like child’s play really; messy and fun! I especially love preparing food in the summer on the weekends, when the back door and the windows are flung wide open and it’s warm and sunny. Everything is so much more relaxed and carefree in the summer and that finds its way into the food – the salads, the barbecues, the picnics – which is wonderful. I like to potter in the kitchen, coming in and out of the garden as the food cooks.

The times when I have sometimes found cooking a little less relaxing is when I’ve had friends and family over for dinner and I have a lot to do, especially when the occasion is a little more formal such as a birthday or Christmas. What I’ve learned over the years is that it pays ten-fold to prepare what you can in advance and to make sure you’re organized and know what you have to do. Familiarize yourself with the recipe beforehand, make sure you have everything to hand, including the right utensils and pans, start any elements of the dishes that you can earlier in the day, make and plate up the desserts in advance. It sounds simple, and it is, but it’s easily overlooked and that’s when things can become a little more frantic.