I’ve declared 2023 the year of reading but I’ve got a few hobbies going at the moment, especially cooking wiht a proper wok and drawing on the Wacom. The latter two colliding for a food-inspired illustration after cooking some blistered green beans using a dry-fry method outlined in The Wok from Kenji López-Alt.

The illustration was simple enough to do, but I’ve been building up my basic skills with the Wacom and Affinity Designer, playing with brushes and masks and generally just re-familiarizing myself with all the cool things that are possible via experimenting.

The dish of blistered green beans is also easy-enough, calling for a shallow pool of rapeseed oil (not covering the beans) with which to fry the beans, removing them after they blister and re-adding to whatever else you like.

I’m obsessed with cooking green beans..and drawing…and reading about cooking green beans, so you’ll certainly see more. This is just a small record of what I’ve been up to so far in the new year.