What's in a name? The inspiration for Four Amongst Three, like so many of the recipes contained within the site, dates back to my childhood.
If you look closely you will find that at least one image in every one of my blog posts contains a four-leafed clover. In early primary school I can remember spending recess breaks laying in the grass with my friends, searching for these clovers. One of my friends would occasionally find one, but much to my disappointment, I was never the “lucky” one.
Then it happened. One day, when I was about 12, I stumbled upon my very own good luck charm. I felt my younger self vindicated; and yet as if I’d somehow made off like a bandit because I hadn’t even been searching for one at the time. The clover jumped out at me from the surrounding greenery. Ever since then, I haven’t been able to stop finding them.
I stumble across handfuls of these little guys each summer, on the edge of someone’s lawn, or in the green space between the sidewalk and the street - evidently I must look down a lot when I walk. When asked how I find so many, I can only describe it like one of those Magic Eye ® 3D images: just when you stop trying to find the hidden picture, it appears. And once it does, it is impossible not to see it.
Needless to say, I’ve literally found dozens of four-leafed clovers over the years. Many of which I have since lost track of, but those found more recently have been stored up in the pages of my cookbooks. They are often kept on the inside covers, but sometimes they find their way between random pages, only to be forgotten and rediscovered months later. It’s not uncommon to find one that has slipped out lying on our kitchen floor.
This site is a nod to these clovers that now literally infiltrate my cooking inspiration at its source. Perhaps more importantly though, I consider myself extremely fortunate to have access to the incredible food that I do, and to be able to share it with those around me.