About
My name is Paula and I’m a stay-at-home mum with two boys {three if you include hubbie!}. I like to cook but until now, haven’t had much opportunity to spend time doing it right, if you know what I mean. I love cookbooks and have shelves creaking with the weight of them. I love to gather recipes and would like someday to have a family cookbook that is filled with my favourites that I can pass onto my boys.
Cooking has always been a part of our family’s life. My dad loves cooking and will happily spend hours working away in his kitchen concocting some new dish – then Mum spends hours cleaning up after him! Dad gets his love of food from his mum who created fabulous meals. She grew her own fruit and veg, necessary in those times. My grandad was a merchant seaman and was able to bring home what were unknown fruit and veg during WWII as few kids saw them and that includes bananas! Think about that. Not knowing what a banana was!
My fondest childhood foodie memory is of my maternal granny’s stew. There was a layer of greasy bubbles from the meat floating on the top of the thin stew but I absolutely loved it and have failed to replicate it to this day, due of course to the lack of fat in our meat today and why I think we need to add so many additions for flavour. Ma was also a wonderful woman for getting me my own supply of individual strawberry trifles from the long gone Roches Stores on Henry Street. Shop bought, yes but delicious to my childhood tastebuds.
So, why this blog? Well, now is the time for me to take up the ladle and chef’s knife properly. I’ve this mountain of cookbooks and am forevering saying to my hubbie that I must cook from more of them some time!! What will be interesting is seeing what works and what doesn’t, what looks like the recipe photo and what doesn’t. So people, I’ve stocked up on Zoton, Maalox and Zantac so let’s get cracking! Xx P
To contact me, please send an email to: saltpeppercream{at}gmail{.com}
28 comments on “About”
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Irish Food Bloggers Association
Irish Food Bloggers Association
Member of the Irish Food Bloggers Association
Salt, Pepper and a Dollop of Cream 
looking forward to following your adventures in the kitchen!
Thanks Mark!
Love your blog Paula! Keep it up 🙂
Thanks Maura! Love writing it 🙂
Liked your Blog Paula, esp. the bit about your Mom having to clean up after your Dad’s cooking. I must be very lucky indeed, not onl is my (indian) husband a super! cook but he always cleans up too, lol. I am following you now. And re cookbooks, I see somebody else is as ‘crazy’ as I am.Like to read my blog? Here it is http://www.anyone4curryandotherthings.com
Enjoyed reading this, you have an ease with expression that is capturing to the heart of a person that loves to cook and learns such a love from family.
Hi Susan,
Thanks for your lovely comments; I’m delighted you enjoyed reading it! My cousin and I recently had a big discussion about how our childhood memories are built around food and family gatherings. I love that shared connection and shared values, and wish to pass that on to my own family.
Believe it or not, I came across your site ages ago now when I was considering the cookie business and was SO impressed with your product. GENIUS! I hope that’s going well for you.
Thanks again and please keep in touch!
Xx Paula
Enjoyed reading about you… you’ve got a great blog here! and lovely recipes 🙂
Thank you so much! I’m delighted that you enjoyed the blog. Xx Paula
Thanks for the “follow”!
Hi Paula – I’m really looking forward to reading your blog, Sounds like we have a cookbook passion in common, along with a lack of time to cook from them!! 🙂
Thanks Hilary! And I’ve just gone and ordered Raymond Blanc’s Kitchen Secrets! I just can’t help myself. Have a great day! Xx Paula
’ve recently switched my food blog over to be self-hosted which I hope will make it more user-friendly in the future. As a result, if you were following Can’t Stay Out of the Kitchen via email, WordPress, or using RSS feeds through Google Reader or some other way, you are no longer subscribed. If you wish to continue receiving future posts from my blog you will need to re-subscribe. Sorry for the inconvenience, Teresa.
Thank you for the follow. I really appreciate. You do have a wonderful blog here. I love all your photos and everything else. I look forward to seeing more of your posts. All the best in your cooking aspirations!
Thank you Liz! I truly appreciate the feedback. Keep in touch. Xx Paula
Your blog is so gorgeous Paula. I’ve been reading over some of your posts for the last ten minutes and… you’ve got a way with words and stories. And recipes, of course! Haha… I also collect cookbooks and never use them. Weird, but… I just like looking through them and gaining inspiration! I probably should use them at their full value though. Sigh… maybe I’ll get inspired as I continue to read about your experience. Thanks so much for sharing! x
Thank you so much for the kind words and feedback, Laura, I truly appreciate it! I just cannot resist cookbooks and today went and ordered another three! I keep searching for the perfect book and have found only a handful that come anyway close… Thank you for visiting my blog as now I’ve discovered your own wonderful blog and cannot wait to try some of your recipes. The lime and burnt sugar meringue instantly appeals and I think I’ll be trying that this weekend as I’m gathering and testing recipes for a family celebration in May. Your instructions are SO informative and I wish that all chefs and food writers were as thorough. So, thank you, thank you, thank you for that! Looking forward to following your blog. Xx Paula
Naw, thank you lovely. Hope that the tart recipe works out for you, it’s been pretty foolproof for me so far! Thanks for the follow. So happy to have made another blogging friend 🙂 x
Nice blog. Keep it up
Thank you so much! Have a lovely day. Regards, Paula
You have a great blog! That’s why I nominated you for the ‘Blog of the Year’ award. 🙂 Participation is optional. Find out more here: http://fightforthebite.wordpress.com/2013/12/16/molten-chocolate-cake-and-blog-of-the-year-award/
Oh thank you so much for your feedback and nomination! What a lovely surprise! I’ll definitely participate :). Xx Paula
Keen to follow your cooking adventures as we are the same!!! Tons of cookbooks to the point where if we cooked one recipe for every meal, we would probably never have to repeat a recipe -lol!
Thank you! And yes, you’re totally correct! It would take us the remainder of our lifetimes to work our way through all the books! And then there’s the fun of “now I know I made a lovely chicken casserole but which book is the darn recipe in…???!!! Lol. Have a great day! Xx Paula
Yes!!! We do that all the time where we can’t remember which book it was in. LOL – we thought that only happened in our house. Thank you and hope you have a great day and festive season 🙂
I see your badge for the Irish blog awards. Best of luck Paula.
I admit beans on toast is as good as it gets. I might learn something from your blog.
Frankie.
Hi Frankie,
Thanks for the follow and your kind comments! I hope you find the blog interesting.
Good luck too for the blog awards!
Regards, Paula
You have a lovely blog Paula…I’m glad I stumbled upon it:))