If I can’t go abroad, abroad can come to me.

It’s rapidly becoming apparent that we’re heading towards a second summer where travel outside of the UK isn’t going to be a realistic option. For now, at least the coronavirus news is on the positive side. The vaccine rollout continues apace, the infections numbers are falling rapidly and as I type the third lockdown is scheduled to end on March 29th. It may be good news here but in mainland Europe it’s anything but as several countries go back into lockdown of some form or other and a third wave of the virus appears to be taking hold. Borders are closing again and for all the talk of vaccine passports for those who’ve had their jab, travel still feels a long way off. That seat at a pavement table in Paris, or a beachside bar, is going to have to wait for another year.

All is not lost though, I do have a plan for how I can try new things, taste new flavours and spread my wings. I’ve decided, if I can’t go abroad, abroad can come to me.

I’ve written before about my cookbook collection and this weekend I spent some time sorting through it. The exercise had two aims, one was to trace some recipes I’d been asked to repeat but couldn’t for the life of me remember which book I’d originally got them from. I keep meaning to find a way of marking books with favourite recipes, but it never seems to work. The other aim was to look for new recipe inspiration, something different to cook. It was the second aim, made me realise just how many books I have where at best I’ve cooked a couple of dishes from them and in some cases none at all. That’s when I realised, now is the perfect time to correct this, to open the pages and delve in.

On the shelf, I have books specialising in food from Italy, France, Peru, Israel, Palestine, Nigeria, Spain. Others covering a specific city, New York, Tokyo, Paris, and some which go much broader, the middle east, Scandinavia or Eastern Europe. I even found a Nashville specific book and have no memory of how I came by it. I spent time going through them yesterday and quickly found the inspiration I’d been hoping for

So I plan to pick one book a week, select two or three recipes I’ve never done before and over the next few months I’ll be travelling the world in my kitchen and writing about my experiences here.