We love our cook book. The pictures are so nice, Russell did such a good job while I was at the publishers. So the front cover didn't work out but - Don't judge a book by its cover..he he he...
The recipes all worked when Raymonds chefs tried them out. The place we hired all the props from 'the laquer chest' was so exciting, it was filled with all sorts of treasures. We had a great time in there rummaging around. We had to be strict with ourselves as we could have stayed there all day!
As you will have noticed there were quite a few tears in this weeks episodes, when they have got to flow it is best to just let them! It gets all the bad stuff out.
The random bit where we were having an interview and I walked off - I was saying I didn't want to do the interview - I was having a bad time.
You can see the pages of the book on our facebook group.
12 comments:
Do you know if The Laquer Chest has a website, and if so what is the web address?
Yes they do have a website. It's an amazing place. We're pretty sure it's where they got the props for Jamie Oliver's home cooking series. Sorry we spelt the name wrong in the blog, here's the address:
www.lacquerchest.com
thanks for reading our blog!
well three of you left !the right one definatly went this week, i thought 'nels' should have gone weeks ago!... we went there for a meal when they were filming it was truely awful!!
loved your cookbook, thought yours was better than the two guys, seems to me there trying to find little faults with you and blowing them out of proportion... thats entertainment i suppose, can we have a stiff upper lip next week please!
What I want to know is why did you fail to get Restaurant of the Week for the third week in a row because you used frozen chips, then this week Restaurant of the Week goes to someone who couldn't boil an egg?
Hi Russell & Michele, May I ask what happens to the restaurants between Friday and saturday service? If you are in a challenge, surely you can't be in the restaurant as well. Are they closed during this time?
Hi mrsclooney, we asked the same question when we first got through the selection process.
Actually what happens is that the restaurant is closed every day except for the Friday and Saturday services.
We sometimes used our restaurants to prepare food for the challenges for example when we were in the motorway station challenge we used our restaurant to prepare food for the photos on the Tuesday then we were at the service station on the Wednesday.
Hope this explains and thanks for your interest.
Next Wednesday and Thursday will be so busy on 'The Restaurant' I'm not sure how they will fit it all in so check back then to hear about the bits you don't see on TV.
Hi Michele and Russel.
Found this from a link on Digital Spy. Very interesting!
I can see both sides of the argument on the book cover.
If I had seen that book in a shop at the time you produced it, ie before the programme aired, I would have thought maybe it was a religious book or something!
But maybe you thought that if you had come this far, 'The Cheerful Soul' would already have had some affect on the national consciousness. So, if you put that book in shops now, you can guarantee that millions would know what/who it was about, and a large proportion of those would pick it up and probably buy it.
Were you assuming some prior knowledge of The Cheerful Soul when you designed the cover, knowing that you would bound to have become famous to an extent through the programme?
Anyway, I think it looks a lot of fun in your pink fluffy cloud world! Good luck, hope you've won! :)
lol, my spelling is as bad as the lads.
'Russell' and 'effect', lol :)
I know the spelling police are out and about...
I think it is brilliant inspiration to see people who are so passionate about what they do. I think your concept will touch a note with many in the way it expresses dining as being an experience of well being as well as extremely pleasurable. I am holding a dinner party in a couple of weeks and am on a tight budget as Im a trainee teacher and my boyfriend has just been made redundant,but the party must go on! Would you be able to offer me any inspiration? I need to come up with something which is winter warming as well as indulgent for my guests? It would make my day if you could make a suggestion!Many warm wishes and all the best in your future restaurant sucess.
Dear angelsandwolves,
Sorry to hear that your boyfriend has been made redundant whilst you are training. I hope he finds something new and even better soon! Russell has done this for you:
This is a really good seasonal recipe which can be made with either cutlets of Autumn lamb (delicious right now, full of flavour and slightly gamey) or good pork chops. Best of all it’s pretty much done in one tray so there’s virtually no washing up!
For 4 peeps:
12 Lamb cutlets or 8 Pork chops
25g Butter
2tbsp Olive oil
1 medium squash, washed, de-seeded and cut into 3cm thick wedges
4 firm pears, peeled, cored and quartered
A few sprigs of thyme
Salt and pepper
Preheat the oven to 180°c (165°c fan oven).
On a large baking tray mix the squash and pears with half the oil, the thyme and some seasoning. Roast in the oven for about 25mins or until the squash is well coloured and tender.
Meanwhile heat the remaining oil in a frying pan. Add the butter and when it is foaming add the meat, season and colour well on all sides.
Place the meat on top of the squash and pears for about the last 8mins of cooking time. Remember lamb can be served slightly pink in the centre but its best to cook pork all the way through.
When everything is cooked transfer the squash and pears onto 4 warm plates and top with the meat. Keep warm.
Put the roasting tray over a high heat on top of the hob and pour in a glass of whatever wine you’re drinking or simply a wine glass full of water. Bring to the boil and stir and scrape up all the roasting juices with a wooden spoon, this makes a delicious simple gravy.
Spoon the gravy over and serve. Sometimes I serve some sautéed cabbage or spinach alongside for extra 5-a-day-ness.
For desert Raymond has a really simple chocolate mousse recipe on the BBC “The Restaurant” website.
Hope this helps, Happy cooking!
Russell
Dear DS Lazlo,
Thanks for your comments.
The aim of our book was to be more of a keepsake or scrapbook than just a cookbook, Something that can be interactive with a family, there would be blank pages in the back where you could write your own recipes and stick your own picture with tales of your experience with a recipe or fishing etc.
The stories would just be about us because we were writing the book. They would be there to inspire families (whether that family be a couple or with children) to create those kind of memories - the sort you want to share that bring a warm glow to your heart. You know when you really like the smell of a certain food because you had it cooked for you on happy occasions etc.
The cover came out a bit rubbish but the idea behind it was to be covered in a deliciously bright green silk with the wording for 'The Cheerful soul' embossed and illuminated in gold (like in an ancient manuscript or fairy tale writing). I totally forgot to write cookbook on it! Whoops! I was in such a manic rush to get it all typed up. Where it was printed out on the paper it looked not at all as planned.
Thanks again and keep watching to see what happens in our pink fluffy cloud world next week! Don't worry about those spelling police! Every where spells our names wrong, sometimes in the same article there will be an 'L' that floats from Russells name to mine.
wow a recipe from 'the cheeful soul' how exciting !!! it just so happens i have a butternut squash with no idea what to do with it, will try this dish at the weekend.
any plans on trying to publish the book? i agree with the person that said keep the cover how it is as people will recognise it and pick it up. i'd buy it ,russells food has aways looked amazing!
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