That's me - the guy in the picture on the front. And as I said there, I'm vegetarian and I like cooking and travelling. I like doing loads of other stuff as well, but it's mostly the cooking and travelling bit that comes through on the site. I started trying to be veggie when I was 17. I was working as a volunteer nature reserve warden and living in a wee hut on an island so I began to cook for myself - there really wasn't any other option - and I found I enjoyed it a lot. My first home-cooked meals were baked beans mixed with corn with fried onion and that kind of stuff. Not Cordon Bleu, that's for sure. My recipes aren't much different nowadays. I still work on the principle of chuck what's available into the pan - I usually only have the one pan - and I'm not too fussy if it isn't fantastic, although experience has shown me how to be more discerning in my choice of combinations of ingredients and things usually work out okay. As long as everyone who has to eat it actually enjoys doing so, I'm fine with that. I like variety in my cooking. That's important, and maybe why I started putting together a collection of recipes.
I have a wife and two kids - a daughter and a son. Neither of them live with us: daughter lives in Hong Kong and son lives in Scotland. Mrs Macbean and I have a pad in Kazakhstan and one in Scotland, but we spend a great deal of our time on the road, or on the sea, or in the air.
The travelling bit started years ago. Not when I was so young... I was around thirty when I started travelling intensively, but that was a long time ago - I'm in my late 40s now - but I haven't slowed down yet. I love it, and among all the other great things about travelling, I love trying new dishes and ingredients in new countries. When I discover something new, I like to find out how it's done and try to make it myself. But, I am a bit lazy... I don't try that hard. As long as it tastes good, reminds me of the original and doesn't take much time and effort... that does me.
I've been getting good at cooking with spices, though. I've discovered all kinds of combinations of different spices and I'm still learning. That's one thing I think I do well in the kitchen, but the other cooking stuff.... I think I make up for skill with enthusiasm. If you're an experienced cook and you've come here looking for inspiration, just remember, you're probably a better cook than me. You will probably see things in my recipes that could be done in better ways, and that's good. Please let me know if you feel you have improved on anything I've posted.
How do I manage all the traveling and arsing about when other people have to work? Well, I have to work too. I don't have a secret cash-stash to keep me going (I wish I had). For many years I was an English teacher - rubbish pay but loads of opportunities to travel. I didn't really like it but it was a job. And before that I was a painter and decorator, a labourer on a building site, an envelope stuffer, so the teaching didnae seem that bad - especially with all the travelling that came with it. But I got fed up with it eventually - not so much the teaching as the idiot administrators I met in every single place I worked. I packed in the teaching a few years ago and I've been working on-line ever since: mostly translating, editing and proof reading, but I've done a wee bit of web design and a few other things. It's not the most exciting work, but nowadays with the spread of available internet and having my mini travel computer, I can do it sitting on a beach on a tropical island, so I'll hack it for a bit longer until I find another source of income.
In the meantime, I plan to continue traveling, checking out new recipes, taking photos, drawing wee cartoons and posting my ideas in my cookbook. I hope you enjoy them.