All about the book
One Pot One Portion is out NOW!
Happy Monday team,
Welcome back to Table for One!
What a week.
What a life, actually! As I said in my publication day video, this has been the most unbelievable 2 years of my life and none of it would have happened without you and I am so SO grateful for that. What started as me cooking alone in my little kitchen has grown into a community of hundreds of thousands of solo cooks, all looking to bring themselves a little extra joy, through food.
Now, my debut cookbook has been published and you can BUY IT HERE! I wrote this book for you, and for me, and it is such a privilege to cook with you through these recipes.
I should also mention that the book is currently only £16 on Amazon! Which at just under 16p per recipe, does feel like quite a bargain.
There are so many people to thank, so rather than doing that here I’m going to point you in the direction of the acknowledgements at the back of the book. I can’t read them without crying, and I already feel quite dehydrated so I will leave the reading to you for today.
Book Launch Event
There have been many many times over the last few months where I have struggled with the thought of what comes after book publication. There has been an enormous build up (and a huge amount of work) going into this book and so, in some ways, publication has felt like an ending. A completion of this process, leaving space for a lot of potentials and a lot of uncertainties, which feels daunting at times.
However on Thursday, in a beautiful independent bookshop in south west London, a group of 75 people (many of whom didn’t know each other) came together to celebrate food, togetherness and self-care. It was important to me to have a book launch event for you (followers of my social media, makers of my recipes and future readers of my book) because I wanted to create a space where individuals could come together, potentially challenge themselves to attend an event alone, and feel the buzz that comes from doing something nice for yourself. Also selfishly because I chat to many of you on instagram and you all seem like wonderful people that I very much wanted to hang out with.
I catered for the event, scaling up recipes from the book (one pot eighty portions doesn’t quite have the same ring to it) to share with everyone. I chose my mortadella & mozzarella focaccia sandwich (page 142), and my chocolate brownie (page 188). I spent most of launch day prepping this food with my family who kindly came down to support me at this event. They continually offered their help and assistance throughout the day, and I continually refused most of it due to kitchen control issues (I’d like to say I’m working on it, but I’m not…it’s just who I am at this point). I digress.
To host an event filled with such a supportive, warm energy was an incredible privilege and not only a highlight of my career, but of my whole life, which feels slightly dramatic to say, but is true! Going back to my original point of book publication feeling like an ending of sorts, Thursday changed that for me. Seeing this community together in real life, as opposed to through the lens of social media, was so hugely inspiring, motivating & exciting for me that it couldn’t feel like anything other than a beginning. Though I’m still not quite sure what will happen next, I know that I want as many people as possible to experience that energy and that togetherness.
So I have to say another thank you to everyone who came and supported me at that event. It was a joy, you were a joy and I feel so much joy when I think about what we might be able to do next together.
In case you missed it…
This week I also shared a new recipe with you, this is my one pot one portion blueberry streusel cake made in collaboration with the wonderful Remi Idowu. I think this might have just replaced a classic apple crumble, as being my desert island dessert, it’s that good! Beautifully light cake, bursts of juicy blueberries and a crumbly shortbread-esque topping. Served with warm custard, always.
The Future…of this newsletter
Hopefully by now you’ll have seen the first meal plan which takes 5 recipes from my book and my socials to create a dinner plan, shopping list and tips & tricks for a varied week of food with minimal food waste.
Going forward, I’ll be sharing a brand new meal plan every other Sunday (so two meal plans a month) for paying subscribers. It may also include exclusive recipes that aren’t available on my socials. The rest of my newsletters will be free and available for all subscribers, and will also be sent out on a Sunday. So it’ll look a little something like this:
Meal plan
Free newsletter (recipe roundup, travel feature)
Meal plan + exclusive recipe
Free newsletter (restaurant review, exclusive new series)
The free newsletter will vary but will often include recipe highlights, homeware/kitchenware favourites, travel highlights, restaurant reviews and food writing! I am also going to be launching a fun new series in the autumn that will form a large part of this free newsletter.
If you did want to upgrade your subscription to access the meal plans you can do by clicking the button below. It’s £4 a month or £40 a year (or the equivalent in your local currency).
I think that’s all for now, see you on Sunday for the next meal plan!
BIG LOVE & HAPPY COOKING,
Eleanor x
Thank you, thank you Eleanor so much for writing this book. I love to cook but have been a solo diner for many years. The last book good for one was Delia Smith's One is Fun from the early 90’s. As an Australian our cook book writers (though great), can’t conceive a solo cook/diner. So discovering your book was a delight and has just arrived. I can’t wait for my first meal.
Kate