Instagrammers Anonymous: It’s Been How Long?

Hey, guess what - The Usual Saucepans is two today. TWO YEARS OLD?!?!?! How on earth did that happen?

I feel that this is something we should celebrate, so instead of the regular does of Instagrammers Anonymous covering the month that’s been, I thought we’d take a little look at some of the best parts from the last couple of years. It could be a long post about what I’ve learnt, but let’s be honest that could go on for ever, so let’s just take a look at some of my favourite creations and a few which some of you lovely people seem to have quite liked.

Gin has featured relatively regularly over the last couple of years, but by far the most popular of these gin-soaked posts has come in the form of the adventure in making Raspberry Gin. It’s still one of my favourite recipes - although now I’m not entirely sure why I took the photo by a rain splattered window.

Travel is one of my greatest non-food related passions. But as many of you will know travels always involve lots of food! I love trying new dishes on holiday and have brought several back to my own kitchen. With the last few years having taken me to the likes of Moscow, Vienna, and of course around the UK, I’ve picked up a few ideas. There might also be a little Scandinavian trip brewing just now - to say I’m excited is putting it mildly. I’ve always loved the US though and having been to a couple of weddings there in the last year or so I’ve picked up a few ideas, I couldn’t choose which of these I love most, so here we have Philly Cheese Steak and some Louisiana-inspired jambalaya!

Like many kitchen lovers, I’ve got a bit of a thing for cook books. Many of the copies that grace my bookcase are Nigella and Nigel’s (Lawson and Slater, respectively) and from the latter I once made a comfort food dinner I nicknamed ‘Grown Up Beans and Sausages‘ - it’s now one of the most read posts in the colder months.

Life can be a very busy place - I have weeks that seem to vanish into thin air (in fact most of 2014 falls into that category). That’s why the Dinner in a Hurry recipes came about, to supply good food at short notice. Of these I think one of my favourites has to be when I came across a recipe that claimed this bacon and avocado toast was a salad. I feel this is the sort of salad we can all get on board with.

Another butchered attempt at a Nigel Slater recipe came from one of my favourite dishes - a great burger. They’ve got a bad rep, but if done properly then they’re great and not hideously unhealthy, so I went on soap box In Defence of Burger and Chips. I must have been on to something because it’s a top recipe throughout the summer.

Whether it’s cake, muffins, deserts or bread baking has been a regular feature over the two years. I absolutely love cake, and will bake at any given opportunity. Picking a favourite from the many, many cakes was tricky, but in the end settled on this one. It’s a Pimm’s & Raspberry Cake - combining my love of all three of those things, and then some! What’s not to love?

And there we go - six recipes (well, seven, technically) that sum up the first twenty four months of The Usual Saucepans. Hopefully the recipes and photography is getting better as I learn more - there’s definitely still a lot left to learn! - but over all I hope people just enjoy the food I make. There are many, many, many plans of where I want to take TUS over the coming months, so here’s hoping the next two years will be as successful as the first two!

Thanks for sticking around, more cake will be served up soon!

Craig (210 Posts)

Edinburgh-dwelling, baking and food-obsessed, twenty-something adventure enthusiast. Runs on liberal amounts of coffee, cheese, cake and gin; bribable with same.