“Sure, happy to help.  We can get it designed, edited and if my coffers will allow I’ll even consider paying towards it.”  I used to say, such was my generosity in those executive days.  But here’s the sting.  “We’ll start work on your newsletter when you come back to me with all the copy for the first two issues and ideas for the next four editions.”  In those days I was an assassin to all those half-baked ideas about newsletters that would never last although everyone thought they would rock the world of their customers or be the sticking plaster solution to their gap in internal communications.

I think if I applied those principles to this blog of late my website would have been closed by the Marketing and Communications Dominatrix.  Still, I take comfort that after 5 years and 11 months since I started this blog and after publishing over 1,500 posts I do give myself some credit for stamina if not consistency.

Life hasn’t quite been in the fast lane of late although my mind has been a little distracted by work.  More specifically by a plan to refresh and step up my business in exciting new ways.  Although I’ve not been working all hours my mind has certainly been full and as the fresh ideas started to roll it’s been hard to focus on pretty much anything else. Now the flashes of inspiration and creative thinking have settled into a firmer shape, I feel I can refocus on other things for a while. Or that’s the plan at least.

Like how the heck am I going to fit all the broccoli and cabbage seedlings I have growing in the greenhouse into the kitchen garden alongside the kilo of garlic bulbs due for planting next month. And who can I fob those final few kilos of tomatoes glowing in the greenhouse onto.

The bassets continue to live life at basset speed which seems to be mostly stationary on the sofa or in the rare moments of sunshine on the veranda.  Here’s the photographs for May’s Basset calendar that I’ve loaded into the gallery.  Just to prove that they aren’t complete sloths and do from time to time raise their heads and kick their heals.  Enjoy.

This photographs was taken by my dear friend Sarah when she visited us earlier this year and it pretty much sums up our Friday cooking routine.  Although there is no late sunshine streaming through the kitchen window these days there is something comforting about the routine of making pizza dough, rustling up some mozzarella and baking our pizza in our Big Green Egg Pizza oven.  Admittedly the home dairy is a stretch every week but I couldn’t imagine Friday nights any other way.  A glass of wine, Garrison Keiller’s Radio Show or The Splendid Table Podcast twittering in the background and a couple of basset hounds sniffing at your ankles in case there was any cheese that didn’t quite make it onto the pizza.

It’s the signal that it is time to kick back and enjoy the freedom that the weekend brings.  Hope you all have a great one when it comes around.

Although outdoor chores were off the agenda I’ve been hard at work in the kitchen with cooking, baking and preserving and getting throughly engrossed in my pile of birthday books.  I was lucky enough to receive some lovely books which fit perfectly in my kitchen library.

The Art of French Baking is going to give me a new and exciting baking adventure to master french style pastries and sweet treats.  After allowing my paella pan to gather dust for so many years it was a recipe by Ottolenghi that reminded me how delicious paellas are and a lot of fun to make.  With a whole book about Paella I can now experiment a lot more. Having read an extract from Alice Waters the Art of Simple Food in the Penguin Good Food Collection I can now enjoy the full version and I’ll have my work cut out to make the most of it before I try and book a table at her restaurant Chez Panisse during out stop over in San Fransisco en route to UK in a few months.  Last but not least I’m enjoying the latest of the River Cottage Handbooks which I always find really practical reference books. With this one I shall be stretching my growing muscle in the herb bed next season.

Earlier the year as part of my bread making challenge I baked bagels.  Or rather boiled and then baked the bagels.  They were ridiculously easy to make although I think practice makes perfect when it comes to rolling and shaping them.  Home made bagels taste nothing like the almost rock hard kind you get from the supermarket.  These are much lighter and tastier.

I first got hooked on bagels when I was a student and did a stint as a camp counsellor in the US.  Staying in New York at the end of the trip I was able to sample bagels, cream cheese and lox (smoked salmon) from a shop in Brooklyn that only sold bagels.  I still remember slathering the cream cheese on and biting into it.  Although my own variety didn’t quite match up to the memory of that experience they were still pretty darn good.  There is something about bagels that are just so good for the soul.

In my research on bagel recipes I found out at that a cafe in Wellington claims to be the first kiwi to bring authentic bagels to New Zealand.  It’s a cafe I’ve not been to in a while so I have made a mental note to go there soon and try out their bagels.

If you want to give bagel baking a go.  I used the River Cottage Bagel recipe as a basis and it was quick easy and bagels so tasty I’ll be using that recipe again next time.

Although autumn in New Zealand is nothing like the leaf peeping extravaganzas of New England in the USA it put on a pretty good show.  Everywhere you looked the colour palette of browns, yellows and reds contrasting with the blues of the water and sky.  All the big landscapes had me hankering for a better quality wide angle lens and wishing I hadn’t forgot to pack my tripod.  Still there is always next time.

No doubt that I’m as smitten with this beautiful landscape once again.  It’s the breathtaking way the water, land and sky blend together with a dash of colour.  No wonder so many artists are drawn to the area.  Although I did wield my camera occasionally it was not a photographic expedition.  Although inspired by photographers at the Picture Lounge in Wanaka I would dearly love to spend time exploring this part of New Zealand photographically.

It was staying in Wanaka 9 years ago that planted the seed for us to move to New Zealand.  Now I am lovestruck all over again I wonder what might happen as a result of this latest visit.

It’s been a long while since we last ventured to Central Otago.  It was the place that stole our heart and we vowed to move to here. No doubt Queenstown itself is a place to enjoy but it’s the surrounding places I’m most looking forward to revisiting. First though – I need to drink in this view a bit more.

A couple of weeks ago there was a fascinating article by a blogger that summed up perfectly what I had already started to feel from an overindulgence in food blogs (there were over 100 in my food blog feed).  Soon after reading this I went on a food blog diet for a couple of weeks and didn’t read any to see what difference it would make.  Instead I found myself still reading about food – A Year of Food Life and A Year in the Village of Eternity if you’re interested. And then one day what struck me was that what really interests me about food is how good food is the fuel to a good life and the best food is that which you make and grow yourself.  Also that my favourite food writers are people who write in depth about food – Elizabeth David, Jane Grigson, Nigel Slater, Ottolenghi, Eliza Acton, Alice Walters, Diana Henry. I am loving reading my way though the excellent Penguin Great Food Series.

At the same time as all this indulgent thinking about food I decided to look for a volunteer position in a local community organisation and I’m now volunteering for an organisation that I think does really excellent work. My first assignment is working with a young family who need help with menu planning, budget shopping and household routines.  Aside from making me realise how rich my own life is I am totally humbled by the determination of the young woman to put healthy food at the centre of her family and to do it on a minuscule budget and little time to invest in cooking and housekeeping.  Things that I take for granted in life are a daily battle for this family but I’m confident that with the right support, tools and information they’ll soon have things turned around.

I don’t think that I shall be recommending macarons to this family – well not yet at least.  But I baked these basil and lime beauties a month or so ago when I was day dreaming about opening my own nature inspired patisserie. The only problem with them is that I had to eat them all myself since his lordship doesn’t like meringues.  Instead I rustled up a batch of blueberry and bran muffins for him instead.  It struck me as I was setting up the photograph of these two baking adventures how they represent two ends of the baking scale – the rustic and the elegant.  I enjoyed making both of them equally although did sweat to find a simple recipe for the Macarons and plumped for Dan Lepard’s methodology also shared by Ottolenghi who take credit for the wonderful flavours. I also watched this video several times although ended up spooning my macarons as I got stage fright at the last minute!

For all the fun I had making macarons and muffins the work with Supergrans has made me see food from a totally new perspective.  One based on survival rather than indulgence. It’s a new and exciting adventure seeing food from a completely different perspective.  Going back to basics has been a lesson in what’s really important in life and forcing me to think more about how I can use my culinary skills and knowledge to really help others and not just to entertain myself.

Being focused is something I’ve been doing a lot of reading and talking to people about.  When I am coaching people it usually presents itself as a “time management issue or work-life balance” but usually when it comes down to it the real dilemma is how to overcome a consistent failure to focus and choose priorities.  All the checklists in the world don’t address this problem although they can be a creative distraction and a good way of clearing the mind.  Although productivity gurus will tell you to schedule all those important things you need to do what it doesn’t help people do is make decisions about what and when nor how to deal with things when your new system of productivity fails (usually after a few days).

Rest assured when I’ve cracked this whole conundrum I’ll be writing a book and becoming a superstar consultant.  In the meantime, I shall rely on my chalkboard, my white board on the fridge, diary, iPhone app and a notebook to keep me on the straight and narrow.  And when it all goes wrong I just live with the regular frustration of forgetting things, not quite getting everything done and not being the multi-tasking supremo my alter ego thinks she is.  For all my results focus I’m at heart a drifter content until things become so important and urgent that I can kick into action and dig out my best.

Work-wise I’ve entered into a 30 day challenge with a client of mine at their request so I’m under pressure to change my ways.  It’s only been  few days and since the challenge is ring fenced to my executive duties it’s been quite easy to maintain focus and priorities although I’ve come to realise that I probably need to be applying the approach to all my domestic executive ways that really would be a challenge and my spoiling my drifter ways.

Now where’s the fun in that?