Well, it’s only been 6 years and 4 days since I last posted, I’m clearly excelling at this blogging thing!  I blame the exercise topic I chose to start my blog on, it clearly is not my forte.  I can’t even say I’ve had a love/hate relationship with exercise over the ensuing years, as it’s really only a hate relationship.  So, moving on to something that is much closer to my heart, or my stomach as the case may be…FOOD!  Food, glorious, food – some think of it only as a necessary fuel to get through the day, whilst others, like me, think about it nearly every waking minute, and anything that goes along with it like wine, coffee, picnics, dinner parties…I think you get the gist!

I’d have to say my ultimate favourite cuisine is Italian – give me a pasta or risotto any day, though my rational healthy side does say this is not ideal.   But ignoring the healthy side, I realised that amongst the multitude of recipes I have in cookbooks, files, on Facebook and Pinterest (you name it, I have recipes pinned/saved/stored there), I seem to have a vast number of Bolognese recipes.  Some so similar I wonder how the flavours might be different, and others so markedly different I wonder how they can really even be considered Bolognese!  All of this wondering made me wonder even further about which recipe may actually be the best and why, so I decided to hold monthly Bolognese nights with various friends and family.  I created an evaluation sheet with a maximum score of 5 per section with a section for the Sauce evaluation, the Taste/Flavour and finally the Texture.

Last night was the very first Bolognese Night with just two of us – Karinda (my cousin) and myself.  I was so excited I even downloaded music particularly applicable to the evening and the rest to come.  Karinda kindly brought a bottle of Lanson Champagne for us to try, which was yummy and I do believe that Champagne goes with everything!  Then to start I made a very simple and healthy bruschetta and finished with a baked pear and Nutella dessert, again light and healthy.

But the Bolognese, oh how I loved it!  I’m not participating in my own survey, since I’m the cook, but it was so meaty with such an intense flavour.  I thought we should begin with a traditional Bolognese from Bologna, and chose Not Quite Nigella’s (whom I’ve been following for years) recipe, which she got from a cooking school in Bologna.

Karinda was expecting a rich tomato based sauce flavoured with lots of herbs, along with vegetables.  This traditional Bolognese uses only tomato paste, and absolutely no herbs whatsoever but like most Bolognese, it starts with a ‘soffritto’ base – carrot, celery and onion.

And the results? Karinda rated it a total of 12 out of 15 – pretty good start if you ask me – even though it wasn’t quite what she expected from a Bolognese.    To sum up the night, it was a total success in my mind, and I thank Not Quite Nigella for the recipe.

One last thing…though food is a total obsession, I’m also studying part time to fulfil another passion and dream that I’ve had for a long time.  And I’m studying whilst working full time.  So to manage what I’m sure are your very high expectations (ha!), I will not be writing every day, or even every week.  I will write after each Bolognese Night, and possibly some other random posts, but that is my only commitment at this point!  Thank you in advance for your understanding 🙂

Until the next Bolognese night xx