Writing an Essay

Writing an essay shouldn't be a chore. They always are, but they shouldn't be. They are an opportunity to craft words in order to express an opinion sharply and concisely. They can be compared to dining at a fabulous restaurant.
First is the planning phase. The restaurant needs to be chosen, the day set aside and people invited. It then needs to be booked. Like research.
On arrival at the restaurant, an apertif is the norm. This is comparable to the plan. It relaxes you, gives you chance to look at the menu and generally think about food. The plan gives guidance, explores your ideas and implements order.
Once food has been ordered, the first course comes; each course of food should have very different tastes, but not so different that they don't compliment one, and should be enjoyed thoroughly. A good wine binds it all together. This is like writing each paragraph. Delicious to write, exciting and different. With all the crumbs swept up because it's just that good. But bound together by a solid idea.
There. Essays are just like good food.

My Good Friend Nigella

It's said that the kitchen is the heart of the home, and although my kitchen currently looks more like a post apocalyptic refuge, this sentiment is most certainly true. Food is one of life's biggest comforts; it is necessary to eat at least once every three weeks to carry on living, a piece of chocolate or bowl of rice pudding can make the entire world seem like a better place and there really is nothing quite like a greasy £4 pizza at 3am. But before I sound like a secretly obese whale (although how I'd keep that a secret I'm not sure) let's also remember that food is what you eat with friends, where you go on dates (having said that, I've never really understood the attraction of watching a virtual stranger shovel food into a hole in his face while I frantically refrain from dripping pasta sauce all over my top and around my mouth. But each to their own) and an all round bonding experience. 

This is perhaps why celebrity chefs and cooks (Nigella does NOT like being called a chef) have such a special place in our own hearts. Many people are on apparent first name terms with Jamie, Heston and Delia. Food somehow connects us; it is something that everyone has in common no matter what nationality, class, age or gender. It is virtually impossible to dislike someone who cooks good food...which is a little damning for me when I manage to ruin scramble eggs. But practice makes perfect...Breakfast anyone?