‘I am a typical Irish Mammy’s boy: I go home for dinner and manage to leave with food for the next night or two’

I am obsessed with cooking programmes on TV – The Great British Bake Off, Cake Boss, any of the Jamie Oliver or Gordon Ramsey shows, and anything else to do with cooking.

I also seem to own a lot of cook books, Jamie's 15-Minute Meals, his 30-Minute Meals, I even have a Gloria Estefan cook book, Estefan Kitchen, with Cuban recipes. (I'm not even joking!)

But I never really cook. I know laziness is probably the main factor but I also don’t have that natural flair when it comes to cooking. I would need to follow recipes word-for-word and see a picture for every stage of the process. When I do manage to make myself something as simple as a Bolognese it always tastes so bland. I’ve tried everything – adding herbs, wine, etc but it still always seem to taste the same.

I live in M&S. My favourite meal that I “cook” is their lightly crusted plaice, carrot and swede mash, red cabbage and a tin of mushy peas. I should have a shrine in my apartment to Percy Spencer, the man who invented the microwave.

I have had a few dinner parties over the years but have never cooked for one of them. My friend Michelle owns the Cake Café and so I call her and get the chef to make extra portions of whatever their dish of the day is. I then just stick on some rice or pasta or whatever . . . no stress, a clean kitchen and your guests are guaranteed to enjoy the food. And no, I never lie and tell them I cooked it myself. Honesty (and laziness) are the best policies.

I go home to my mother most Tuesdays after work for dinner and I always manage to leave with a dinner for the next night or two. I am a typical Irish Mammy’s boy. My mother always tells me sarcastically that I had better meet a man soon who can keep me in the culinary delights I am now accustomed to. At least he won’t be under any pressure!