The One with the Extravagant Cook

So on Monday night I went to a Pampered Chef party.

Sorry I mean show! They call them shows because there's a large element of cookery demonstration to show off the cookware they are selling. They make a couple of dishes and you get to taste them at the end.

Cookery, shopping and eating. Result!

As Monday went on and I contemplated my impending night out and my dwindling bank balance I decided two things before I went;

1) I wouldn't buy anything

2) It must be a tell tale sign of motherhood, because it comes to something when I consider going out to a party plan do a "night out".

Before the boy, and bearing in mind I used to do something similar as an extra job, when I was asked to a party plan evening my heart would sink a little and I'd be all "shall I shan't I go" all day at work, but I'd always go, always have a good time but always spend something!

Now, after a day of Mr Bloom's Nursery, wiping bums and playing build up the stacking cups and knock them down at least 100 times, a night out watching someone chop peppers several different ways and looking at pretty pots and pans seems like paradise.

So I picked up Lemon Cake Lady and we drove to her friends house for the nights festivities.


The demonstration started. I felt the tightness of my purse strings loosen a little. Well maybe one little gadget wouldn't hurt. I'm earning again now. I deserve a treat. Oh that citrus press is good, look at all the juice she got out of that lemon. So, you say you don't need fat to cook roast potatoes in these stoneware dishes. That's interesting! And that bowl can go in the fridge, freezer, microwave, conventional oven and the dishwasher. Hmm that's good isn't it. So versatile. 


Before I knew it my resolve to spend had weakened to a, "I've got a £50 budget how much stuff can I get. Oh I get a free gift now well that's worth it" kind of attitude and I was lost in a sea of gadgets. I also seemed to have stumbled into a living, breathing Victoria Wood sketch!


At one point my budget dipped back down to £30 when I got shushed for talking because age and motherhood have made me arsey like that and I get the hump, as you may have guessed from my last few posts, but then the food came out and with the help of yummy Lemon Cajun Chicken and Pecan Tassies I was too busy cramming my mouth with treats to remember what I had the arse about.  Next thing I know I'm writing out my credit card details on a form for just shy of the full fifty!


Once the stuff is here I shall report on the roast tatties in the all singing all dancing " Real dishes don't need fat" stoneware I bought and we'll see if it's all it's cracked up to be.


For now I'm just concerned that I've lapsed back into my old spend, spend, spend and to hell with the consequences ways. I was so determined not to buy anything yet I was so easily tempted.


But then that's the lure of good food and gadgets. It's a heady combination! You weren't there. Don't judge me. You didn't try the pecan tassies. You don't know what it was like. They should put a warning on those little morsels of piping hot loveliness.


Not a health warning.


A wealth one!!