Cranks: the four leaf clover

Honestly? Well it was Masterchef of course. The finals. The tension. The puppy- eyed contestants.
 
Masterchef was an integral part of the wooing conversation with my now-boyfriend Richard as our relationship formed. I even made a 'masterchef comedown' mix cd to impress him. 14 months on, we huddled with buttefly-filled stomachs for Tim, Alex and Dhruv, and watched this year's series finale.

Alex, Masterchef's rabbit-in-the-headlights, technically brilliant freelance food writer, inspired me to do this blog. His idyllic home in rural cambridge, his suitably Sex and the City setup (mac, yoga stance, endless shelves of war-torn books) might not quite match the promise that my own surroundings do, but Alex and I have something in common: a passion for FOOD.

So, where to start. Childhood favourites? In a nutshell - Cranks.

I'm lucky enough to have spent the majority of my childhood in Totnes, just outside Dartington, home to the Cider Press centre and Cranks restaurant. Looking back, Cranks in the early 90's only worked in boho south devon. In my early teens I turned my nose up at cramped Greenlife health food store - it smelled. I even remember saying it smelled 'too organic'. Who knew 'the O word would become a mantra for post-delia tv cooks and rock and roll stars.

Back to Cranks. I'm still on the hunt for a clover-shaped cutter to truly recreate the cheese scones. A big O novice they were my favourite thing on the menu. And now? They still fill me with rich, dense joy.
I'm lucky to have landed in Bristol with Nicky, my teenage cycling buddy. We'd meet on Saturdays and get an unintended health kick with a 2 mile cycle from Totnes to Dartington. We'd take a walk in the gardens, sit on the bronze donkey then grab an ice cream from the Cider Press's wooden shack shops.

Nowadays, Nicky is the one I turn to when I have an ache for HP. Not the sauce, the pie. A cheesy potato slice of pure joy...

I realise I haven't mentioned meat yet. Cranks debuted another rareity when I was young - vegetarian food. And though I'm painfully, but definitely, a carnivore, Cranks taught me how to draw blood from all the other food groups.

We'll meat again....(promise). But now for something completely different...you'll never look Torode in the face again.

Nx