I have bought an apron! It’s not my first apron to be sure, but it’s the first one I’ve ever used. Or even bought. Over the years I’ve been given aprons by friends, by event organisers in their swag bags, by cooking schools… and they have all been politely folded in a kitchen drawer and forgotten. Because… well I don’t know! It just always seemed like that ONE EXTRA THING to have to deal with. And frankly, I’ve always been quite a tidy cook and don’t end up getting splashed with sauces, grease, etc. That is, UNTIL…

Yep. Lockdown. During the past year I’ve been cooking up a storm, as many you who follow my personal @azahar Instagram will have seen. Just home style cooking stuff, often using up leftovers, fridge foraging, and sometimes trying out dishes for the very first time. Much of which also gets posted on Azahar’s Kitchen.

Anyhow, one of the many things I have learned over the past year is the more you cook the more you are likely to splash crap all over you. This past winter my cosy cotton Day Pj tops took a real beating, and I was always having to spray them liberally with stain remover before washing. And then… it got warmer recently and I decided to splash out on a couple of new Day Dresses for the summer (really they are nightdresses but, like the Day PJs, I only wear them during the day).

Well, these Day Dresses are a lovely comfy cotton t-shirt knit with broderie anglaise bodices and they are white as the driven snow. Thinking about my poor (pale grey) winter tops I knew these pretty dresses would end up looking like shit in no time. And so… I have an apron! I have used it once already and have even found a place to hang it so it is always to hand. In fact, the only criteria when choosing an apron was that it would look nice hanging in my tiny kitchen, and this one had all the right colours (FYI there are a hella lot of ugly aprons out there!). The fact that it is festooned with different cheese names did not factor into the decision.

Note: all the previous aprons ended up in charity boxes with half of my clothes when I seriously downsized before moving to my present Casa Azahar in 2017.