Storytelling Recipes: Writing, Cooking, and Finding Home

In this episode Katerina's guest at the kitchen table is Amie McGraham.

We chat about our fascination with cooking, vintage recipes, seasonal produce and the sense of community that can be created through sharing food. Amie shares memories from her childhood and the influence of her mother, a cook and writer, who now inspires both Amie's cooking journey and some of her own writing projects. We trade stories of recipe experiments (the great and the not so great), and our enthusiasm for trying new and unusual combinations of ingredients. Amie shares recipe stories for peach cornbread and lemon blueberry poke cake, an how cooking can make you feel like home.

tasty morsels

[00:01:20] Island farmhouse memories, food, and family.
[00:06:27] Fearless baking experiments.
[00:09:28] Vintage recipes
[00:15:43] Using fresh herbs and improvising with available ingredients
[00:19:30] Telling stories through recipes.
[00:24:34] Vegetable cooking.
[00:29:05] Old fashioned shops and close-knit communities.
[00:32:49] Cooking makes us feel at home.
[00:35:49] Bland cake, bad ice cream, tasteless salad.
[00:41:50] Bread challenge failed, recipe complicated and frustrating.
[00:43:00] A well stocked pantry, and having the right pans.
[00:46:03] Thinking differently about of food.

the best bit

"Because home is... a state of mind for me. It's a state of being, not necessarily tied to a place. So when I cook, I feel like home. It makes me happy. I'm content. It's cathartic."

get cooking

Three ideas for taking action in your own kitchen, inspired by the conversation.

🍅 Start a recipe journal: Why not begin documenting your own cooking stories and recipe twists? Compile favourite recipes, flavour experiment, and jot down memories associated with your kitchen experience.

🍅 Experiment with fresh herbs: Whether you have a garden or simply a windowsill, try incorporating fresh herbs into your dishes. They add an extra layer of flavor and brightness to any meal. If you don't have easy access to fresh herbs, consider buying bigger bunches when you can and freezing them for easy access.

🍅 Stock your pantry: Set yourself up for easy cooking any time with essential items such as tinned pulses, tomato paste, a few herbs & spices and rich flavourings like soy sauce, olives or parmesan. Having a few staples on hand will make it a snip to whip up a delicious meal out of nowhere, even when you're short on time.

connect with Amie

weblinks: Amie McGraham
instagram: @this_demented_life
newsletter: Cook & Tell

connect with Katerina

community: Simply Good Food Collective
instagram: @intuitive.cook
youtube: @intuitivecook

additional links

Some of the things we talked about
Book: Small Fires (Rebecca May Johnson)
Original music by Colin Bass.

About your host

Katerina Pavlakis

Intuitive cook & irreverent kitchen coach
Growing up in Greece in the 70s, cooking, and eating, at home was simply normal. Shopping at farmers' markets, drooling over recipes, grinding spices, and animated conversation over dinner are some of my fondest memories. This is where I honed my cooking intuition. I'm here to help you find your way back to a simpler, more joyful way of cooking.

To bring intuition into your kitchen too, start here!

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