The birth of the Recipe Junkie

When my son was 2 yrs 3 months old he was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia. I was 6 months pregnant, working as an 'in  house' lawyer for a major mobile telecomunications company. Our lives were thrown into complete and utter disarray, living a life set entirely by his chemotherapy regime, weekly blood tests, blood & platelet transfusions and frequent unscheduled hospital visits to deal with infections that his poor immuno-compromised body could not fight off. In the midst of the chaos, and being a control freaky type of gal, I picked up How to Be a Domestic Goddess (by the goddess of all domestic goddesses, Nigella Lawson) one day and decided that I would cook every single recipe at least once.

That was February 2006. 5+ years on, he is in remission after 3 years of chemo and 2 yrs of follow up and and his sister is 5. I never did quite cook every recipe out of Domestic Goddess but I am on the case. The trouble is that every time I pick up a new recipe book, or cookery magazine, I become obsessed. And that's where the trouble starts.