A little about me…
…after a 25-year career working in the London design world I decided to change direction. I have always loved travelling & experiencing other cultures, both near and far. I also became slightly obsessed with learning how to cook the cuisines from the various countries I was lucky enough to visit. Starting with Indonesia, then Thailand, Australia, Vietnam, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Cambodia & India, then rediscovering my love for the food of France, Spain, Portugal and of course Italy. I then honed my technique & skills on various cookery courses, including a knife skills course at Billingsgate Fish Market, School of Wok, Waitrose Cookery School and various Bread Ahead baking workshops both in-person & online. This then became a fascination with all things baked: learning more complex processes like puff pastry, croissants, authentic Japanese baking & sourdough – Sourdough has also become a way of life.
Then came Amandough, the baking business I had dreamed of & then finally set up in 2019, probably not the best timing as a worldwide pandemic was about to play havoc with everything & everybody. I did get the chance to bake for my local café in Sydenham, bake & deliver bread & cakes to the local community. I also held numerous pizza parties for my lovely neighbours, during (socially distanced, of course) and after the various lockdowns.
In September 2021 we moved to Hurstpierpoint in West Sussex, and soon afterwards a very good friend offered me a way to help start up my business again: baking desserts for Brighton Blues Rugby club’s “posh lunches”, when the senior teams played at home. This then snowballed when the club’s chef went down with Covid; I agreed to take on one of those posh lunches for 40 people; it was quite a big leap from what I had been doing, but I thought in for a penny… I loved it & it turned into 4 seasons/years, running the kitchen operation. Creating food for the players of two matches (four teams) on a Saturday, while on Sunday the mini & youth teams train & play; this plus various catered events during the year, including a wedding, numerous wakes, parties & touring teams, festivals, an evening ball for 100, plus my absolute favourite was the Xmas lunch – two years in a row, feeding 120, and I’m still not sure how we got them all in the clubhouse.
I have also cooked in two nurseries, one in Burgess Hill & one in Hove, which was vegan. I love working with & feeding the kids; in both settings I would provide cooking lessons with the children – pizza & dessert always got them involved and motivated. I particularly enjoyed working with the SEN kids, which was always so heartwarming when they tried something new or joined in with the lessons.
One of the other things I got up to in lockdown was to engage my friends & friends’ kids via Zoom & teach them various recipes, getting more ambitious as their confidence grew.
More recently I have worked at the Village Pizza Kitchen in Hurstpierpoint village, which was fun, and where I learnt a lot about restaurant service & take away. The late nights were a killer though!
All the above has brought me to this new venture, to create a delicious, healthy, cost-effective take away style service for Hurst, Hassocks and surrounds. link
My love for sharing, making & talking about food has also inspired me to include cooking lessons, this part of the business is already taking shape, and I have already delivered some lessons, which are so much fun – and thankfully they have come back to book more classes, yay! link
The pottery world has been on my mind for the last decade, I have finally taken up lessons and absolutely adore it, this is something I look to involve as part of the idea of Amandough, watch this space for more of this adventure… link (to follow)