We've come a long way from the two tentative Mammies, meeting in person for the first time, in Avoca Rathcoole back in February of this year. Of course we knew each other before that, five years of posting on a parenting website invariably means you get to know each other very well indeed (yes, ladies, I'm talking about 'youz') But after all those years of slipping recipes and tips in amongst the cures for nappy rash and tantrums, and inspired by dear friend Strictly Baking's venture into the blogosphere, we had a hazy idea that we might start a food blog.
Coming away from that meeting, all we had was a title, a dream and a very vague idea of how we might carry it out. You see, Sarah's the real cook amongst us. Married to the lovely Nick (a chef - lucky Sarah!) there's no recipe this girl won't both have a stab at. I, on the other hand, am an accountant by day and budding novelist by night who really should have asked her Mammy more questions about cooking while she still had the chance - someday I'll catch up...
But then, the very ethos of the Dinner Ladies is to encourage people (like me) to listen to people (like Sarah) and give it a shot. Our aim from the start was to encourage the 'can't-cook-won't-cook' brigade into the kitchen. With a combination of our own made up recipes (ok, that's usually me) and ones taken from places like the Irish Times, Delia Smith, Nigella Lawson and other 'proper cooks' (Sarah specials) we attempt to break them down into easy doable steps that even our children could (and do) follow. Yes, our blog posts can tend to ramble a bit and we're not always about the 'dinners' but if more people decide to rustle up a sponge instead of buying one from the corner shop, then thats still a victory for us.
Times are tough out there now. Shopping budgets are lower than ever, and working hours are longer. But its at times like this that we should all be cooking from scratch using fresh ingredients. We should be doing our stock takes (thank you @wholesomeie) and be making lists of what we need and sticking to them. Everyone should be planning out their meals for the week, raiding their freezers and store cupboards for inspiration. People should be shopping wisely, yes it takes a bit more time to go to more than one supermarket/butcher/greengrocer but that's what we all have lunchtimes for. It is still possible to eat well on a shoestring, ok it might mean subsituting ingredients for whatever you have or can find - but so what?
Just do it.
So what are our plans for next year? Well, Sarah's hunt for a 'proper' job continues (form a queue now everyone!) and I hope to finally publish my novel - so no real change on last years plans then... Well we also hope to focus a bit more on growing your own vegetables and herbs (on a limited scale) I know that having a few herbs in pots this year has saved me a fortune and encouraged me not to discard a recipe just because it asks for fresh mint or tarragon. We'd also like to tackle the batch cooking issue and how best to utilise the household freezer (all riveting stuff, we promise!). There's also a big event looming on the horizon that starts with 'C' that we are ridiculously excited about. Now we know its too early, but in the coming weeks there will be blog posts on stuff people can be doing to spread both the expense and work load in the months leading up to this 'most wonderful time of the year'...
We also have another hazy idea that if I ever do manage to shoehorn my way into the world of publishing that we might someday squeeze all our thoughts in between two glossy covers, but thats probably taking the day dream a bit far for now.
But then our dreams have served us well so far... Shortlisted for a blog award, I ask you...
In the meantime, thank you so much for coming with us on our journey, for following us on Facebook, for chatting to us on Twitter and for reading our ramblings on here. We're having a ball and we hope you are too...
Margaret
& Sarah
xxxx
Well now that one of next year's plans is happening, with Margaret's novel being published soon, there's no reason why the rest won't slot into place. Good luck ladies!
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