Thursday 3 January 2013

Bits and Bobs: the beginning

When I was a kid, my sister and I used to love my Mum's 'bits and bobs' lunches. It wasn't until I got to university that I realised that everybody else's childhood  didn't consist of a bits and bobs mid-day snack that was lovingly prepared by their Mum - especially when they were off school sick or having a duvet day during half-term.

Bits and bobs were, quite simply, made up of whatever was in the cupboard, lovingly presented on a small 1980's side plate and eaten in front of the TV (normally either when Sesame Street or Bewitched was on Channel 4). Bits and bobs sometimes contained some chopped up banana and some cheddar cheese, maybe some buttered white bread, some more fruit, a handful of hula-hoops and (if we were very lucky) some chocolate raisins. It was always a complete mish-mash, a complete surprise as to what would be on the plate. A bit like the term 'guggle cupboard'- that was used to describe the messy cupboard under the stairs which contained everything from plasters to tins of beans - the phrase 'bits and bobs' entered our childhood vernacular. If I asked my Mum for some 'bits and bobs', she would know exactly what I meant.
My sister and I, back in the day when Bits and Bobs were rife (I'm the ginger one)



Why am I going off on one about lunchtime food in an early 90's Essex household? Well, I've decided to call this blog Bits and Bobs because that's what I hope it'll become. Not literally a mix of banana and cheese and chocolate raisins, but rather a place where you never quite know what you're going to find. Perhaps you'll read it when you're watching Sesame Street on TV.


To give you a bit of a background about me - I live in Leeds city centre with Ash - my ace boyfriend. I work in Marketing and PR for a small (but brilliant) integrated agency in the city. I run a monthly book group with a friend of mine and have a bit of an obsession with eating out and cooking good food (most recent obsessions = chefs knives, pasta making and cheese, ongoing obsession = cake). I adore travelling and can think of nothing more exciting than going somewhere new and making some memories. I took up photography a few years ago after I tried (and failed) to take a different photo every day for a year. I try to see as much theatre as I possibly can, and I have an ongoing interest in social and political history, which wasn't completely quashed when I studied it for three years at university. I'm always trying- and more often than not, failing - to shift some lbs, hate exercise, love Diet Coke (especially from the can).

I'm pretty rubbish at sticking to new year's resolutions, but this year I promised myself I'd read more, write more and worry less. For the write more bit, I figured that starting a blog might be a good way to begin. As you've probably realised from the above, I have a lot of different interests and - as a result - read a fair few blogs. I was trying to work out what I could focus this blog on, which was hard as there are so many great blogs out there that focus individually on my interests. So stuff it - I thought - let's just start writing and see where it goes.

Hopefully Bits and Bobs will live up to its name, and hopefully there won't be too many orange segments amongst the cheese and chocolate raisins (seriously Mother, orange, chocolate and cheese on a plate? What were you thinking?!)

Happy 2013 everyone. Here's to a year of Bits and Bobs.

Becs x

4 comments:

  1. Lovely stuff.

    I miss your daily photo.

    Adam

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  2. Excellent Blog. Bits and Bobs in my house was not just a snack, but an actual meal consisting of cheese, gherkins (not American or German style - the real deal, French cornichons), meat, breads and then any delicious leftovers from my father's wonderful cookery repertoire.

    I feel I am going to enjoy this blog just as much as those meals.
    YUM.

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  3. Your bits and bobs sounds WAY posher than my bits and bobs, Anna. So glad you said bits and bobs too though. Maybe we should have a bits and bobs off.

    Thanks for reading lovely people x

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  4. I love the Edwards household, haha. A great addition to any bits and bobs type lunch in the Kilgarriff household was a pickled onion! Looking forward to reading this mate. Soph xx

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