How the chaos began (travel version)

cathrynsc — Mon, 12 May 2014 21:29:00 GMT

Some may say I am a well-travelled 19 year old, others (including myself) would say there is still a lot of the world for me to see, and a lot more for me to learn.

When I was younger my parents provided me with the opportunities to go to:

The canary islands
Florida
Portugal
LA
San Francisco
San Diego
New York
Vermont
France

These trips all seemed to go without a hitch (well any serious ones anyway) ... who knew my parents were actually so organised.

And somehow, as I got older, I managed to navigate myself to, from and around:

Uganda
Germany
Spain
France
The Netherlands
Switzerland

Now it would be safe to say, that navigating myself around these places didn't quite go as smoothly as the family trips I remember... if I’m honest, didn’t go smoothly at all. Somehow I would always manage to get me and whoever I was traveling with in some kind of sticky situation; whether it be booking a trip to a town in Germany, just in time for an organized riot, missing a train to Amsterdam from Germany and so consequently going on a detour to France (and even then managing to get on the wrong train to France and end up heading back to the middle of Germany before finally arriving in Strasbourg) or hiding in a hedge in Uganda, naked, from an armed security guard after skinny dipping in the hotel pool...Somehow I always end up in trouble.

And as with my kitchen endeavours, what people loved to hear about most from my travels, was the times where things wouldn’t go to plan. The near misses. The times where Campbell's adventures were indeed chaos.

How the chaos began (Kitchen version)

cathrynsc — Mon, 12 May 2014 21:25:00 GMT

I got home, sat on my bed and no more than a minute later found myself uttering the words 'I’m bored'.

You would think that after a 12 hour taxi/train/plain/car journey, more than a little hung-over, my bed (that hadn't seen sleep in 5 months) would be inviting. However, home was not where i wanted to me.

After 5 months as a chalet host living a life of snow, mountain air, skiing, drinking, great friends, cooking, cleaning, hosting and more drinking...I found myself sat listening to the faint hum of seagull squawks as opposed to the blare of cheesy Swiss après music that I had grown so accustomed to.

Don't get me wrong I love home, and I love living by the sea but having nothing to do and no one around me left me feeling a little..empty in a way. And so the inevitable happened, dwelling on the past 5 months. All the adventures, and misadventures. All the drunken nights and hung-over breakfast services. All of the laughs, and the tears. All the kitchen triumphs...and kitchen disasters.

That’s what prompted me to create this blog, the cooking disasters. Telling my friends and family at home the stories of my season, the main thing that made them laugh and that people loved to hear about was the times where my cooking went a little...askew. The times where I would end up making 3 quiche or 5 cakes in 1 day as something would intervene and somehow mess it up. Or the times when i would manage to fall over the dishwasher in front of my guests...or many peoples favourite story...the time where I managed to get hit over the head with a frying pan and consequently get concussion. The times when Campbell’s kitchen was indeed chaos.

campbellscookingculturechaos

How the chaos began (travel version)

How the chaos began (Kitchen version)