About CookSister

WHO ARE YOU?

I am a born and bred South African who grew up, was educated and had worked quite happily in Port Elizabeth all her life.  That is, until fate intervened and I followed my husband who wanted to fulfil a dream of working abroad.  We came with the intention of staying a year.  It’s now 8 years later and we are still here.  What can I say – all plans are fluid.

WHERE ARE YOU?

Since 2000 (or 2002, depending how you calculate!) I have been living in London.  And I must say that, despite missing home, I love the old place dearly.  It really is the centre of the world in terms of travel, culture – and of course, food!

WHAT DO YOU DO?

Question is more what haven’t I done!  I am a trained criminal advocate and have defended many people on trial for murder, back when South Africa still handed out the death penalty.  I lectured commercial law to non-legal students for eight of the happiest years of my career at the former PE Technikon.  I moonlighted at a friend’s software company as a proposals writer and legal advisor.  I temped as a PA at a Large Soft-drink Company when we first came to London – crazy but very happy times.  And for the past five years I have worked in law firms in a knowledge management role.

So before you ask, no, I don’t have any connection to the food industry.  And I certainly don’t want to open my own restaurant ;-)  But I have been doing some freelance writing on food, travel and wine and am open to offers in this regard!

WHY BLOGGING?

Because living here in London meant leaving behind so many of the things that made me happy (my family, my childhood friends, my job, the sunshine...), I started investigating other things that made me happy that could be done here.  Hence my burgeoning interest in writing, cooking, travel and photography.  And the one thing that can meld them all together… blogging!

CAN WE USE YOUR WRITING/PHOTOS?

Everything on this site (except where I have specified otherwise) is mine – all text and all photos.  This means that copyright in all the material belongs to me and all rights are reserved.  This means that you may not in any form reproduce any text or picture from this site without first asking me and obtaining my permission.  If you are a recreational blogger, I will almost always say yes, provided that you clearly attribute the text/picture to me and link back to this site.  If there is any sort of commercial angle to your site, you will always need my prior written consent to use any of my content - if anybody is going to make money out of the fruits of my labours, I’m hoping it will be me! 

On that topic, if you like my writing or photographs so much that you would like me to commission me to write or photograph something for you, please get in touch - I am always open to offers.

WHY FOOD?

This blog grew out of a weekly newsletter that I sent home to family and friends (until this blog ate up all my spare time and I had to stop!).  The comment that I heard most frequently from them was that my food descriptions had them drooling on their keyboards.  When I discovered blogging and started considering my own blog, I realised pretty quickly that I only liked blogs with a theme – and food was the obvious theme.  Food forms the backdrop to all the milestones in our lives – a wedding breakfast, a graduation dinner, a farewell cocktail party.  It ties us to our past and our family with cords that can’t be broken.  And even in a foreign land, you can recreate the favourite tastes of your childhood and take comfort from them.

ANY FOOD PHILOSOPHY?

My earliest inspiration was my mom – she was an enthusiastic cook all her life and I learned to cook by helping her to make fudge and coconut ice and cornflake clusters as a child.  That said, she was not obsessive about food and we ate well but not exotically.  My mom was a professor of radiography and did not have much time to make chi-chi dishes in the kitchen.  From her I learned that it’s OK to use shortcuts sometimes, provided you jazz it up a little, and that life is usually too short to hold down a job and bake your own bread regularly ;-)  But she never stinted on ingredients or on restaurants, and I once declared as a teenager that our family’s only two extravagances were holidays and food – nothing’s changed. 

In my own kitchen I try not to obsess too much about anything:  not too overboard on low fat or seasonal or organic or whatever the fad of the day is.  I will buy organic where it really makes a difference; and I will buy produce in season mainly because it just tastes better.  I also don’t see why I must buy apples from the USA when we grow perfectly good apples here.  And as far as cooking goes, I have realised that I will never be naturally inclined to make a Gordon Ramsay style dish with all its components and beautiful plating.  I am far more of the Nigel Slater, real food school of thought – why faff with individually plated things when a rosemary roast leg of lamb can be brought to the table with just as much praise and less fuss? 

I have also finally realised what my mom meant when she said:  “Cooking a fancy meal for 6 people once a month is a breeze compared to feeding your family a nutritious, balanced meal every night - and not bore them out of their minds.”

DO YOU HAVE A POLICY ON REVIEWING RESTAURANTS?

Not as such:  I simply write up where I’ve been.  As I pay for all my own meals and don’t get paid for my reviews, I can’t afford to visit a place three times before I review it, so mostly you get a first impression of a place.  Anybody who has read one of my reviews will know that it is more of a detailed narrative than a review, and I tend to err on the side of kindness rather than unkindness.  I want you to live the moment with me, not take my word as The Ultimate Truth.  Am I qualified?  Well, I’m not applying for a job, am I?  I have eaten in restaurants around the world for the better part of 30 years – I think that gives me some basis for making comparative judgements. 

DO YOU HAVE A POLICY ON COMMENTING?

As a general rule, I don’t interfere with comments, other than to remove anything spam-related or that is obviously a punt for some commercial enterprise.  I welcome discussion in the comments and you can say what you like, but if you make a snotty remark, don’t be surprised if you get a snotty response!  Also please bear in mind that this is my cyber home.  I wouldn’t tolerate people coming into my house and being rude to me, and I won’t tolerate it here.  Play nice.  And don’t even think of saying anything racist, sexist, insulting of a particular religion or otherwise inflammatory - I will remove it so fast it will make your head spin.  This is a food blog, not a soapbox for people with an axe to grind.

CAN WE SEND YOU STUFF TO REVIEW?

Of course you can.  I’m more than happy to try out stuff, read books or whatever.  But I reserve the right NOT to write about stuff you send me as well.  As long as we are clear on that, send away.  But understand that if I do review your product I will say what I think, not what you want me to say.

CAN WE ASK YOU TO LINK TO OUR SITE?

As above – you can ask but I reserve the right to say no.  I generally prefer to find blogs on my own rather than have them thrust at me, and I am hugely unlikely ever to add a link to a commercial enterprise of any sort just because they asked me to.  And no, it’s not going to help to say “but we’ve already added a link to your site” or address me as “buddy”.

HOW CAN WE GET HOLD OF YOU?

If you haven’t already found it elsewhere, my e-mail address is jeanne AT 501 DOT co DOT za. 

If you are a newbie blogger looking for advice, you are probably better off visiting the tremendously helpful FoodBlogS'cool, which contains a wealth of information to answer your every blogging question, and more know-how than I will ever have.  You are also free to ask me foodie questions, but nothing makes me angrier that spending my precious leisure time putting together a detailed answer to a recipe or restaurant query and then not even getting the courtesy of a simple "thank you" e-mail.  It makes me want to ban your IP address and send all your future e-mails directly to the deleted folder.  This is NOT my job and I do NOT get paid for it, so the least you can do is be gracious and thank me.

Phew.  Now that's out of the way, I look forward to hearing from you :)