What is this site, and who am I?

On this page: Who am I? - Contents - Sources - Development - Keep up with the latest - Advertising - For geeks - Tell me what you think of it

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Who am I?

The important thing is the content of the site, the recipes and information you can find, but some of you want to know who is behind it all

Well it's just me. My first name is Jean-Hugues, I live in France, near the Brittany coast in the town of Brest.

I am not a professional chef or baker (my real job is Information Technology at a university), but cooking, bread, wine, and all things associated, is one of my passions.

This site is mine, and I have done everything on it, i.e. both the web content (pages, scripts and database) and the cookery: recipes, text, photos, etc..

Contents

I'm trying to share this passion with you, through my attempts and experiences, disappointments and successes, to arrive at the final tested recipes.

My goal is to put on line good recipes. By "good" I mean clear, which can be made by everyone. That's why I include as many photos as I can too. I pay attention to tricky stages, I repeat each weight, volume or number within the recipe, not just in the list at the beginning ("Add 100g sugar" instead of "Add sugar"), and I end with advice, ideas and suggestions of alternatives. If possible I quote my sources.

You might sometimes find slightly harder recipes, indicated by the symbol . This doesn't mean that they are really difficult (otherwise they would not be on the site) but they need a little more care because there are some tricky stages (in which case they are explained in more detail) or maybe they entail rather more work than usual. So the is only a warning to tell you "You should read this recipe carefully".

Of course the recipes are the basis of this site, but I want it to be more than a simple list. That's why you will find many items about cooking: utensils, themes, tips, etc. There is also another section dedicated to things I like, nothing to do with the kitchen. I'll leave you to discover all that, and you can also look at what you can do with this site.

Sources

When I say "My" recipes it's often a lack of humility! Alain Dutournier (one of the best French chefs, but who doesn't have his three stars and that's a real loss for the Michelin Guide) says something like "In cooking, everything has already been invented, now we only remake or adapt". So for myself, all my recipes are unconsciously or not based on something which I have tasted, seen or read.

You will have probably noticed that in cooking we are frequently (maybe always) influenced by our environment: a recipe or an article read at a friend's house or in the doctor's waiting room and here we go! trying to make it, but better of course. So that's why, whenever I can, I quote my sources.

Development

When you see a recipe on the site, it means that it's passed through a rather long cycle that begins with a first test, tasting, possible verdicts: "terrible" (forget it), or "medium" (needs radical improvement) or "ah not bad" (some minor changes perhaps), or "cool" (excellent, nothing to change - very rare ...). This is true both for original recipes, and those that are versions of classics like tartiflette or profiteroles for example.

If it is worth including (after several trials) once the recipe is ready, I repeat it photographing all the stages, these are the photos you see on the pages.

Then I reformat the photos to a size compatible with web pages, I create a page for the photos, I write the accompanying text, I alert Alison, the translator, who adds the English text, and then I publish the new recipe on the site, usually on Sunday. This release triggers the automatic sending of the message to the news list to which you may already subscribe, and updating RSS feeds.

All this of course to try to tempt you to enjoy the pleasure of cooking. Cooking is perhaps the best way to meet with family or friends, because nothing is more friendly, warm, enjoyable than a meal together, with a few good bottles if possible.

Keep up with the latest

As I have already stated, on this site, you can subscribe to a news list which will send you a personnal e-mail when anything new is published. So you will know about each new recipe immediately.

You can also follow me on several social networks:

• Google+: My page.
• Twitter: My tweets in English.
• Pinterest: My pins in English.

Advertising

The success of the site and its newslist means that each month my Internet web host charges me for excess traffic. In an attempt to offset these costs, I have added some commercials on my pages. I don't like it, but it seems to be the better choice (or the least worst one). I hope that you will not be too bored by these commercials (I will do my best to keep them as low profile as possible).

For geeks

If you're interested in the technical side of the site, here is some information: it's a personal PHP development (about 24,000 lines) which uses a MySQL database. The data model is a bit complex (for me at least, more than 40 tables) because my goal was to create a multi-language site with unique and centralized text storage. The site is HTML 4.01, CSS and RSS w3c valid.

No available version number on the site, because as a Web 2.0 site, it is constantly evolving. I modify and improve almost daily, I improve the scripts, I hone tips here and there, I create new pages or functions according to my ideas, and sometimes requests or suggestions that I receive. You can follow site evolutions.

Since January 2013 the site is hosted on a SSD disk, this give more speed and fluidity when displaying pages and recipes.

Tell me what you think of it

Despite all my best efforts, sometimes I make mistakes... So if you see one of those mistakes, or think something is confused, badly, or insufficiently explained don't hesitate to contact me. I will correct it as quickly as possible.

You can also write to tell me what you think about the site, what's right or wrong, good or bad. Your e-mails are of great interest to me, and I promise to answer to all that I receive.

Enjoy this site...

Jean-Hugues

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Last modified on: April 10^th 2013