Way back in September 2000, my Company H.J.Heinz decided to close the
London factory.
The choice was simple, re-locate,early retirement or take redundancy. I was
fortunate in that being 54 years of age and at the time with 30 years
service, I could take both early retirement and take redundancy, which meant
I could take a pension and also commute the pension, and take a redundancy
deal.
I thought I would take a long holiday then get a little job, to pay the
bills, as they say.
Having been the London factory's I.T manager, I thought I would go self
employed as a home I.T trainer or even a grunt on a systems help desk. As I
am sure most of the retirees here will know, that didn't happen. It is so
easy to get lazy.
Over the next few years I thrashed my hobbies and interests to death and
lost interest. Having nothing in my life other than my Wife and my son, I
followed a well trodden path and had an encounter with "The Black Dog"..
depression. Which then leads to the torture of my wife and son. I
whinge,growl,moan and creep away into a corner, it's strange, you know what
you are doing but you don't care, you are the Prime, no-one else takes
priority over you you you !
Breakdown followed, a big hello to anxiety, and panic attacks. Many months
and drugs later you get out of the hole, and then you search for something
to fill the gap,I found nothing that I cared about and although I never said
it, I knew the day may come when I would hurt my family as never before. I
spent many many nights in debate with myself, should it be: Steely Dan's,
"Peg",or Little Feat's, "Rock'n'Roll Doctor", or maybe a Richard Pryor
monologue or a Spike Milligan poem or better still the end of the "Life of
Brian" slung up on a big screen, the whole congregation of mourners singing
along to "Always Look on the Bright Side Of Life".
The only thing I know is that when I get that final act performed, I want
you to be dancing or laughing your arse off to whether it should after many
months of looking for that new hobby it dawned on me why I was watching.
Now I know some would say I should apologise for the previous part of this
email, "It's a cooking newsgroup" many will shout; well that isn't going to
happen. I thought I would like to fill in some blanks, sort of give an
outline of me at present, I have read through the posts in this newsgroup
for the last few months and I only see like minded people, sometimes the
passion bleeds right out of the monitor and hits you in the heart.
As the New Year began so did I, I realised that my fascination for watching
TV Cookery programmes for the last 18 months or so had to be taken a bit
further, doing, instead of JUST watching was the thing I needed to do. And I
set off on my journey.
To bring us up to the present day. I have bought decent cookware, decent
knives, lots of spices and oils and 18 cookbooks all in the last three
months. Some of the books are only OK, some are amazing! Nigel Slater's "The
Kitchen Diaries" and "Real Food" would top my list at the moment.
I cook meals for three; (Wife, Son and myself) but Wife and Son are the
judges, I watch them eat, I watch them trying to take the glaze off the
plate. I feel so good. This is what is all about. Watching your food make
someone ecstatic.
I have never felt more content as when I prep all my ingredients, whether it
be thirty minutes or two hours.
Never thought I would pause the latest series of 24, so I could flip through
my cookbooks to see if anyone has tried to bake plump vine tomatoes with a
garlic and honey topping; I couldn't find anyone who had so I tried.
My son ate all three tomatoes before eating the Chicken Thighs and the
Cheese and Chive Garlic mash. His only comment was "Nice One".
There can be no more pleasure than spending time cooking a dish, and be
rewarded by plates that are clean enough to be put straight back on the
shelf !; (no I don't!, but you know what I mean).
I find it amazing that I now see dozens of recipes that I am excited about
cooking, and with the knowledge that dozens will become hundreds and maybe
thousands.
So at last we come to my question (all who have persevered this far, exhale
deeply and say "About ****ing time", (if my use of the F word offends please
say), I like it, the second most powerful word in the English language. (C
word No 1)
I have dozens of questions, but I will Google away and see what I can glean,
but when the glean has lost its lustre then I will come back to this group
of fellow fans, I was going to type fanatics but I would guess you are not
all as disturbingly obsessive as me.

Help on Knives
I bought a 5 piece knife set knowing that my xmas gift from 10 years ago was
rubbish. The present to myself was a set of V-Sabatier knives, I know they
are not the real thing, only produced under license, but they are quite
nice. However the "Cooks Knife" was only 6 inches. It is Ok as a knife, but
it isn't what I want from My knife. I want a Cooks knife that is at least 9
inches, it must have a "good" weight, "good" is a bit ambiguous, I think I
mean heavy with balance, but I'm not sure. I just know that some knives I
have feel good and some do not. "Money is not an object" is a bit strong,
but I am willing to pay around £100 for that one knife. Will it be Steel or
Ceramic, anyone using Zirconia knives, do tell.
I would like some input with regards to what you consider to be the best
knives on the planet, and how to sharpen would be a nice extra.

I only intended to ask one question, but I will add this as a second:-
Freezing Fresh Veg
Can you do it and retain the flavour? I have no doubt that frozen peas are
the best you can get, but I know that they are the best you can get unless
you have your own garden. Can I buy "fresh" supermarket veg, (supermarket
definition of fresh is in my opinion "Not Frozen".

If you have read this far, thank you.
hope to see some answers
BT