New direction......

So yesterday I was all excited about getting my first product review posted on my website but I was not to know that I was just one large cappuccino away from a completely different path.

This will now just form one part of a much larger site being built and maintained by a professional company. It'll be a site focussed on myself and on my cooking with subsections for product reviews, recipes, blog, photos, videos and cookery advice and there will also now be booking information for private catering and public demonstrations.

All very positive stuff and cost wise it's no more than I'd already set aside for my own basic site and although I will be submitting content it'll mostly be run for me and therefore a massive step in my quest for outsourcing aspects of my life.

I already feel like a weight has been lifted because even though I'm really happy that I've taught myself how to get a site running the fact that I'll be having a professional company who already have some huge worldwide brands as clients is much more reassuring.

I have a few things coming up that will get some local media coverage so it's probably the right time to make use of the publicity before the opportunity passes. I have nothing to lose and all to gain..............I like that scenario :-)

However that's enough of that.

I finally got my hands on some Ox cheeks yesterday. I saw them on the menus of virtually all the restaurants I went to in Melbourne and I've wanted to experiment with them ever since.

They look quite tough as I'd expected so I've decided to give soak them in a light brine (Water, salt, sugar and some pink peppercorns) before cooking in the water bath for 12 hours. The brining helps to breakdown the muscle fibres and helps the meat retain more moisture which in turn results in a nice juicy and soft texture. It works really well with lean meats cut too which are more susceptible overcooking and drying out. There is plenty of advice on how to do this out there on the internet so give it a go.

Well I really must finish up as work is crazy today......it's going to be a looooooooong day.....toodlepip xx