I have enough time on my hands to really indulge myself in my best hobby (cooking) but for some reason, as with all of my other hobbies, I am not getting any pleasure out of it at the moment.

Working out what to cook and making it happen are hugely important “chores” in my day, I spend hours worrying about what to cook then really struggle with finding the enthusiasm to make the meal I’ve chosen happen.

I should be relishing the fact that I’ve got enough time to do “fancy meals” that normally I wouldn’t have time for but I am just not enjoying the process.

In my day plan, there is a slot that is all about that process – you know, what ingredients have we got and what can I make with what we’ve got - and this includes checking out the bread situation and making a loaf if we’re out or going to run out over the course of the day.

Today we needed bread so while I was doing lunch, I put the ingredients into the magic Panasonic and this is the result. I’ve done a shot of it in action before, in fact I’ve done a number of bread related shots, but none of the finished article in the pan waiting to be turned out.

Even though it’s a big chore to cook, I seem to be hungry most of the time and now is no exception…….

Last year I was also focussed on cooking, but then I was making a right old mess with precious ingredients.