Sunday 19 October 2014

Reports of the Death of the Blog Have Been Greatly Exaggerated

People have been wittering on about how the blog is dead for 2-3 years now. And it is true that many blogs have suffered a silent and largely unnoticed demise. Looking at the blogroll on my previous blog, I see that many of the blogs I used to follow have not posted anything for over a year. I only did 3 or 4 posts in the last year.

I guess everyone's moved to Facebook, Twitter and other 'social' sites, where a post requires almost no thought, but usually has a lifespan measured in minutes.

I have my excuses for not blogging - I've been busy building my cooking website and the YouTube video channel that goes with it. And also looking after the necessary evil Facebook page. Making the videos takes about ten times longer than writing a blog post, so I haven't exactly been Mr Lazy.

But now I'm back to blogging, because there are things I want to write about food, restaurants, chefs, trends etc, that just don't fit on the website. The blog will also hopefully enhance the KeefCooks presence on the InterWebz, and I live in hope that traffic and advertising revenue will take off.

If you happen to run a food blog, I'd be happy to consider adding it to my blogroll. Just let me know.

Now, please excuse me, I have to go and shoot some food. I mean, make a video.

Thursday 16 October 2014

Tom Kerridge - What Have They Done To You?

Ever since I heard of Tom Kerridge (jolly, tubby, Brit chef and owner of the 2-Michelin-starred Hand and Flowers pub in Marlow), I've been a fan. He's always come across as approachable, warm and friendly. And he can cook a bit, too.

So I was looking forward to his new TV series, Tom Kerridge's Best Ever Dishes. Tom's always been a bit laddish, and I don't mind that too much. But as the episode went on, it became somewhat forced, as if the director and / or scriptwriter were egging him on, making him say things like 'if yer mates don't like this, get new mates!', 'oy, oy, oy!', 'look at these big boys' and 'that's proper hardcore'.

Sounds trivial, I know, but Tom looked and sounded uncomfortable delivering these lines (I can understand that, of course - talking to camera isn't exactly a natural activity). Sadly, I don't think I'll be watching the rest of the series.

However, it's not all bad - he made pulled brisket of beef, which inspired me to make some brilliant pulled pork sandwiches. Proper lush.