A Big Day.
Today marks a milestone for this blog: my two hundredth post. I’m filled with pride and satisfaction at having built this body of work. Reaching 200 posts feels like a meaningful achievement and a reminder of the dedication it takes to keep creating.
Some stats since 31st July 2014:
months
days
words
images
hours writing, cooking, photographing and editing
…not to mention countless hours researching, managing social media, and wrestling with WordPress and themes.
What have I learned?
I’ve learned a huge amount from keeping this blog. Beyond writing, photography and cooking, it’s taught me about commitment, resilience and myself. There have been exhilarating highs when posts take off and frustrating lows when nothing seems to work, but each has taught me something valuable.
Perhaps the biggest lesson is commitment. For much of my life I avoided lasting commitments to anything meaningful. I drank heavily in my younger years and cycled through relationships without finding the right balance. Those experiences taught me things, but they weren’t always constructive.
This blog changed that. After a shaky start, I established a habit: posting almost every week regardless of holidays, illness, work or study. That steady practice—showing up and creating for myself—has been transformative.
This practice also nudged me toward vulnerability. For years I saw vulnerability as a weakness—something that exposes you to criticism or failure. Instead, I’ve found it’s the key to human connection and personal growth. Putting my work online, week after week, meant risking critique and uncertainty. It also made space for authentic connection and slow progress.
Vulnerability means speaking first and sharing work without guarantees. This blog gave me permission to experiment and accept that the outcome isn’t always predictable. That openness has been essential to my creative and personal development.
Embedded videos and talks have helped shape my thinking on vulnerability and creativity, and I’ve incorporated those lessons into how I approach this project.
Exploring the Unknown.
What keeps me going is the creative freedom this blog provides. I can explore ideas, recipes and photographs without the constraints of client briefs or commercial pressures. That independence requires me to set my own schedule and trust my instincts.
Without external constraints, you also accept responsibility for direction and results. The uncertainty is part of the reward: I create because I want to, because it helps me grow, and because the process is rewarding in itself.
Roasted Broccoli.
Switching to food: I recently tried a roast broccoli recipe inspired by Ottolenghi and found it revelatory. Roasting gives broccoli a texture and flavor that boiling often ruins. Tossed with garlic and olive oil and roasted until edges brown and crisp, it becomes a different vegetable entirely. Adding chickpeas and a herb yoghurt lifts it into a satisfying, well-rounded dish.
Roasted Broccoli with Herb Yoghurt
By Gavin Wren
Serves 2-4
Uses a baking tray and a pestle & mortar
Ingredients
1 head broccoli
400g tin chickpeas, drained
3 garlic cloves, crushed and sliced
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
1 red chilli, finely sliced
20g parsley, roughly chopped
Zest of 1 lemon
2 tablespoons lemon juice
200g plain yoghurt
Directions
Preheat the oven to gas mark 8 / 450°F / 232°C (212°C fan).
Cut the broccoli into bite-sized florets. Toss with olive oil, garlic, chickpeas and a good grind of salt and pepper. Roast on a baking tray for about 20 minutes, until the edges are slightly crisp and browned.
In a pestle and mortar, grind the cumin seeds to a paste. Add the sliced chilli and continue to grind. Add the parsley and crush to a coarse mixture, then stir in the lemon zest and juice. Mix this into the yoghurt to make the herb yoghurt.
Serve the roasted broccoli and chickpeas drizzled and slathered with the herb yoghurt.
