Food geek shopping spree bonanza

I’ve been freelancing for the past few years. It was overall good, but I’d be lying if I said there weren’t some lean times. Clients who didn’t pay on time, prospects who lost their budgets, things like that.

During those years, I accumulated a short stack of Amazon gift cards. They just piled up, gathering dust. Eventually I realised that I subconsciously had been saving them in case of emergency. What if clients are late in paying but the cats are almost out of kibble? Amazon cards to the rescue! I still didn’t need to use them, but it was good knowing that they were there.

Now that I’m comfortably settled in a new full time job I no longer need that gift card safety net, so the past few days I’ve gone on a little shopping spree. Since I want to encourage myself to continue my trend of eating better, and since I love cooking, I decided to spend all of the cards on cooking-related stuff. I’m so excited for things to start arriving; it’s almost like Xmas! (oh, wait, it *is* Xmas time…) The imminent arrivals:

• A new pizza stone: Farewell, pizza steel that’s so heavy I barely use it!
• 2 grams of saffron
• 3lbs of baccala: It’s so hard to find around here (and will keep forever)
• A lovely new Chilean bean pot
• The swanky Zojirushi water boiler/warmer that I’ve wanted for ages
• The Art of Russian Cuisine: I know nothing about it. Time to learn.
• The Scots Kitchen: Again, a learning opportunity.
• The Noma Guide to Fermentation: Adding to my collection of books on fermentation and traditional food preparation methods.
• Behmor 1600 Plus coffee roaster: This one wasn’t an Amazon purchase and was a legitimate Xmas gift to myself, but it fit the overall theme of exciting new culinary acquisitions. 🙂