Hello!
Just a little about me…..
I am Mary Wyer, was born in 1963 in Coventry, England. I am married to Steve and mum to Holly, Julie, Dec and Lydia and nana to Lola, my favourite little person, who is now just three years old. I am the youngest of four children, I have two sisters and a brother. I was brought up in a happy home by my lovely parents Alf and Mary, who were both full time factory workers.
I’m a keen home cook and have been interested in cooking since I became a mum 30 years ago. I think my passion for food has really developed over the last 20 years.
I never considered myself a fussy eater, being from a family of six we had no choice about what we ate and mum fed us plain and simple food on a very tight budget. It wasn’t until I reached sixteen, that I ate out at a proper restaurant, a ‘Bernie Inn’ and I had steak for the very first time. It was really delicious!
My big sister Julie, cooked some really exotic dishes after she left home and moved to London in 1978 and I was really happy to try them out. The first dish she ever cooked for me was Indonesian Chicken Satay with a peanut sauce, followed by dark chocolate cups filled with whipped coffee cream and walnuts. I was in food heaven.
After the introduction to ‘foreign food’ by my sister, I really loved trying food from different countries, that were often cooked by her. Meat and two veg was the only thing on the menu when I was living at home, quite the norm back in the 60’s and 70’s. In fact mum has never cooked pasta or rice (except in milk and sugar) in her life or used a herb or a spice, although she did treat me to a packet of ‘Vesta’ boil in the bag Beef Curry and Rice once which was enough to put me off curry for life! Happily, my first time experience of a ‘proper’ curry was a Chicken Madras, served up in the Rajah Indian Restaurant in Coventry in 1981 and although not a gentle introduction to spice, I instantly became a convert to Indian cuisine.
Trips to Italy and Spain have introduced me to the wonderful flavours of the Mediterranean. Eating out in the sunshine with a glass of chilled white wine and watching the world go by is one of my favourite things to do. When I’ve eaten something that I’ve really loved, I have jotted it down in my notebook and tried to reproduce it when I’ve got back home. Paella is one of my most favourite dishes to cook and to eat.
Over the years my taste buds have become accustomed to many different cuisines and it’s hard to put my finger on which I like the best. I love Lebanese, Middle Eastern, Thai, Italian, Spanish and Indian. I suppose I don’t have to have a favourite really and have had a bash at cooking all of them at some point and cooking with new ingredients and spices excites me so much. I can easily lose myself in foreign supermarkets in the spice isles and at studying the fresh produce and there is nothing more satisfying for me than opening a new cookery book and deciding what to try next……..
I hope you enjoy my website.
Love Mary xx
