JANUARY 2025
My goodness … it has been over three full years since I posted on this website, and have only recently become aware that so many of my family and friends still use it. This has really surprised and delighted me, and has renewed my desire to update some of the recipes here, and also post new ones.
Last year I did an amazing online course called “Make me a Baker” with the wonderful Anneka Manning from Bake Club (see here). This course is an intensive 10 month online program for anyone who loves baking. I learned so much from Anneka, and that knowledge has made me aware that I need to “fiddle” a little with some of my recipes to better reflect my new found knowledge.
So I will slowly review recipes already posted and adjust where necessary, and will start to add some new ones too. To be honest I am not going to advertise this on social media (Facebook and Instagram) as I know the people interested in my website engage with it already, and will see that there is new content.
I am so happy to be “back” … I have always loved and enjoyed baking so much, and it really is my super happy place xo Gina 🙂
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JUNE 2022
Beautiful foodie friends …
I must come clean!
After “missing in action” for some months, the guilt of not posting recipes has finally got to me.
I always knew there would come a time when I needed to consider what I do under the banner of “The Passionate Pantry”. Anyone that knows me knows that I adore cooking, and that the kitchen is my absolute “happy place”.
Since suffering a wrist injury in April 2021, I have had lengthy periods of wearing a wrist brace to avoid surgery which has helped enormously … but I still have issues. So I need to take care, slow myself down in the kitchen (and elsewhere!) and think of what I am doing, and how I am doing it, so that I don’t put my wrist under too much pressure.
The silver lining to this is that I have learned to truly appreciate the slower pace in the kitchen. No more rushing to create, cook, test and retest recipes before posting … I just cook what comes to me, as it comes to me, and it is so much fun … yes, I am excited to say I have found my cooking mojo again!
I now realise this is the perfect time for me to embrace my new life as a “retiree”, and acknowledge that it is a true privilege and gift to be able to “age” gracefully in this somewhat crazy world we live in.
I set up my website some years ago to share recipes. It was never a vehicle to earn money from, and I have truly loved the connection it has given me to so many like-minded “foodies”. I still cook a lot of the recipes that appear here and will continue to update them on the website when I can see that is warranted, but will no longer be posting new recipes.
Thank you so much for sharing this amazing adventure with me xo Gina 🙂
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ORIGINAL POST
For as long as I can remember I have loved being around food, not just eating it, but cooking with it too! From the young age of eleven I had always dreamed of working somewhere within the food industry, but as it turned out, that wasn’t my calling.
So I worked for many years in the corporate world, and post children I worked in a variety of roles in either retail and/or food related that fitted within the needs of the family.
Throughout all my adult years, cooking, reading and buying cookbooks, and entertaining dear friends and family, was a great passion … and like many I would prepare and cook for days for these events … and loved every minute of it.
In April 2011 I bought a Thermomix at the suggestion of a dear friend, who had worked for a long time in the food industry and really knew her stuff! So if Denise told me to consider getting one, then I knew she would be right.
Despite my initial nerves at my delivery (I had never seen a Thermomix before, so it was quite a daunting exercise), I was off and running. Within six months I had signed up to be a consultant, with the view that this role would help me learn more about this amazing machine, and I was right!
In August 2013 I commenced a three and a half month full time Whole and Natural Foods Chef Training Course run by Jude Blereau (see here) and that was a life changer! Whilst it was the hardest learning experience I have ever had, it was the most satisfying and rewarding. As Jude explains about the course:
“Our world is changing, and the way we cook, grow and relate to food is changing. The Whole and Natural Foods Chef Training Program is an intense, comprehensive, rich and exciting program based on the fundamentals of nourishment, and all that is wholesome and healthy eating, including how we grow and cook our food. It is designed for those who wish to pursue a career with a broad variety of options, based on the health supportive culinary arts.”
As part of the program we were required to complete 160 hours internship, and I chanced upon the opportunity to work with Tenina Holder (see here) who graciously allowed me to assist her, slowly ticking off my hours until I finally completed them in October 2014.
So as a food lover, this website was established because of my desire to share recipes, and is my “open cookbook” to my dear family and beloved friends who often ask me for recipes, and to anyone else that just loves to cook.
So thanks for being here and sharing in the joy that is “simply food” xo Gina 🙂
