Friday 1 June 2007

About this Blog

Talk to me on Facebook, where I share my
kitchen adventures.  Ask me anything about cooking,
and I'll do my best to help you! 
Greetings! My name is Jane-Anne Hobbs Rayner. I'm an award-winning social media strategist, a cook, a food writer, a recipe developer and professional freelance journalist & editor with over 25 years' worth of experience in print & digital media.

I'm the author of three books, and I live with my husband Philip Rayner and our three children in Hout Bay, not far from Cape Town, South Africa. My first cookbook was published in hardback by Random House Struik in July 2012.

My site Scrumptious, which pioneered recipe blogging in South Africa seven years ago, is an independent food blog all about careful, patient home cooking, and about how to prepare excellent food for family and friends.  

The recipes on this blog are, with a few early exceptions, my original work: I have devised, developed and thoroughly tested them myself. Of course, there are very few recipes these days that can be called truly original: every recipe builds on the work and patient testing of many generations of talented cooks, chefs and alchemists. Where I've adapted an existing recipe, or drawn on the work of other cookery writers, or found inspiration in someone else's recipe, I always say so.

I've been cooking since I was nine or so, but it's only in the last 20 years or so that cookery has turned from a hobby into something of an obsession. And no, I'm not going to say, like TV cooks, celebrity chefs and Master Chef contestants, that I am 'passionate' about food, fresh local ingredients and punchy flavours (Duh! Doesn't every cook feel that way?).

I'm enthusiastic, yes, but I think the word 'passion' should be reserved for activities that involve reading books or removing your knickers.

I can say that I do love food, especially good home cooking that warms your heart and makes your tastebuds sing.  All I want from a plate of food is that it tastes really good, feels lovely on your tongue and fills your stomach with joy. Sure, a plate of food should look good too, but not so exquisite and dainty that it fills you with terror.

I don't like arty-farty or silly fusion food, I can't bear foams, spooms, smears and skidmarks of sauce, and the sight of ingredients pointlessly stacked in a tower - or arranged in microscopic portions on a black slate roof-tile - makes me want to jab a stick of lemongrass in my eye.

Home cooking is all about old-fashioned craftsmanship, and I place a great deal of emphasis on flavour, precision and patient preparation.  I also strive to provide clear, detailed, consistent instructions and exact measurements in every recipe, so that it turns out perfectly for you every time.

Pea and Pea Shoot Salad with Bacon and Eggs
My cooking/eating style? I love fresh crunchy salads, home-made soups and vegetables. I adore roast meat - beef, lamb, pork  and chicken, in that order - and would like to eat fish every day: fresh, smoked, pickled or tinned.

 I have a particular passion for the warming spices of Indian cuisine. In recent years, I've featured a variety of easy low-carb recipes, and stepped that up since being diagnosed early in 2014 with Type II diabetes.

I collect cookbooks and brochures from the fifties, sixties and seventies, and have a fondness for ring-bound recipe books compiled by school-mommy committees, church groups, and so on. (These are a rich source of wonderful recipes, not least because, in my experience, a women who contributes a recipe to a book that's going to be circulated among her peers will contribute the very best recipe she has in her arsenal, and chances are she got it from her mother, who got it from her mother, and so on. Some of the recipes you'll find in cookbooks of this sort are hundreds of years old.)


This is an ad-free, freebie-less zone 

My blog is not sponsored by anyone and I don't accept freebies or samples for review (so please don't send me them - it embarrasses me no end to turn couriers away at the gate). I never write blog posts (or endorse products or services) in exchange for publicity or exposure. I don't mean to sound stern, but it's my belief that you can't be an independent voice in this business if you're constantly stuffing your pockets with free goodies.

If I mention a brand or an ingredient or service or outlet on this blog, it's because I think it's excellent and worth recommending to my readers (and I always pay for it myself). You're welcome to send me interesting press releases, and I do appreciate invitations to launches, lunches and so forth, because they give me a chance to shmooze with people who love food keep me in touch with what's going on in Cape Town's culinary scene.

Where I reproduce a recipe or article for which I've been paid a fee in my capacity as a professional writer and recipe developer, I always say so.

Photography
I take all the photographs on this blog myself, snapping the dishes on my kitchen counter as I'm testing recipes. I admit I'm not particularly interested in food photography (my burning interest is writing accurate, trustworthy recipes) but I do make an effort to produce images that are appealing, crisp and informative.

I try to illustrate my recipes with simple, clear, close-up pictures that convey the essence of each dish, and which offer reliable visual information about its components.

You can be assured that my food pictures are wholly authentic: I snap them as soon as possible after I make the dish, when the food is still hot (or cold, depending on the recipe and season!).

Recently I sold my Nikon camera: I found it bulky, annoying and useless in low light.  These days, I use my phone - a Samsung Note - for taking pictures, because its images are so atmospheric.  

Copyright notes
Please note that the recipes, photographs and concepts on this blog are copyrighted, and that you may not use them without my express permission. You may not alter, transform, or build upon this work (and that includes rewording or reworking one of my recipes, and presenting it as your own).

I assert my moral rights over all text, ideas, photographs and innovations on this blog.  (Sorry to sound so fierce, but you will not believe how much time I have to waste sending polite emails to people/bloggers/websites/newspapers, reminding them that they're not allowed to nick my stuff at will.)

If you'd like to use a photograph or recipe, please drop me a line and ask! I never say no to a reasonable request.

Contact
Want to contact me? Send an email to hobray at gmail.com (use the @ symbol instead of 'at'). PLEASE don't send me freebies and samples: I can't accept them.

Find me on Twitter, Pinterest and Facebook by clicking on the images below:

 Visit my Pinterest boards! Subscribe in a reader


Book reviews and Scrumptious in the media
For articles, book reviews and sound clips about this blog and my new cookbook, visit this page: Scrumptious Blog in the Media

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
All text, concepts and photographs © Jane-Anne Hobbs Rayner 2007-2014. Want to contact me? Send an email to hobray at gmail.com (use the @ symbol instead of 'at')



Print Friendly and PDFPrint Friendly

11 comments:

dawnielle said...

i just posted a comment on your cauliflower...I too have another blog besides the one i mentioned exceeedingthespeedlimit.typepad.com...popped over from Cooksister - love Jeanne and hope to get to SA one day with my three kiddos.....

Jane-Anne said...

Hi dawnielle

Thank you for this comment, and the cauliflower one! I'm heading over to have a look at your blog now.

Juno

Anonymous said...

Hi there Juno, I cooked your slow roasted lamb shanks with potatoes and cherry tomatoes and it was an absolute winner! I live in Australia and have 4 children,18 down to 6 years of age, and am soooooo sick of trying to come up with quick, EASY and tasty crowd pleasers. My husband thinks that your dish was the best thing I've ever cooked! I'm not a bad cook so I think you should take that as a compliment. Anyhow, I fully plan to tap in to some of your other dishes. Thanks for the much needed inspiration. Michelle.

Jane-Anne said...

Hi Michelle. Thank you so much! Your comment has made my day (and it is my birthday today!). I am so glad that the dish turned out so well (I always have a residual anxiety that my own recipes only taste good to me). I so appreciate your positive feedback.

I have left a copy of your comment under the original recipe.

Juno.

paul said...

I really like your blog, your recipes are fabulous!

Thank you!

Jane-Anne said...

Thank you, Paul!

Jacoba said...

I just may have some really old cooking magazines for you, if you're interested.

Linda Harding said...

Hi Juno,

I love uour blog! Cannot wait to try some of your recipes...

Thanks for the invite to join the FB group but have yet to actually start a FB account! Will hopefully do so soon.

Have a great weekend!

Anonymous said...

Hi ...
I have only just discovered your blog and cant wait to start using some of your recipe's. Your photos are fantastic too! R we allowed to use them for our own use?

Frieda Marjoribanks said...

Hi Jane Anne
I am just having a bash at your uncles fab slow roasted belly of pork-having a Bay tree outside the back door.Smells brill so far and it hasnt even started cooking yet.We were all in Knysna and Sarah did your toffee/butterscotch apple pie which was just wonderful.I have made your nougat raspberry pie greeted with much oohs and ahs from the waiting family.I knew your book would be great but I have been thrilled with results of your lovely recipes-each time-all great. You have a terrific palate and your flavour combos just unique and sublime.When is the next book coming out!!! Love Frieda

Frieda Marjoribanks said...

Hi Jane Anne
I am just having a bash at your uncles fab slow roasted belly of pork-having a Bay tree outside the back door.Smells brill so far and it hasnt even started cooking yet.We were all in Knysna and Sarah did your toffee/butterscotch apple pie which was just wonderful.I have made your nougat raspberry pie greeted with much oohs and ahs from the waiting family.I knew your book would be great but I have been thrilled with results of your lovely recipes-each time-all great. You have a terrific palate and your flavour combos just unique and sublime.When is the next book coming out!!! Love Frieda