My Love Affair with Food

I never imagined myself to be a woman who cooks.
When I was in College, I used to make jokes based on the fact that all I knew how to make was toast and Kraft Dinner and sometimes even failed at that.

I used to ask questions about other people's cooking...

"How'd you know how to make this?"
"Where do you find your recipes?"
"I could never make a meal this good. Have you always known how to cook?"

I was never confident in myself when it came to kitchens.
Once I started becoming interested in blogging, my favorite lifestyle bloggers would post a recipe every now and then and the ingredients they used would completely intrigue me.

I had never even heard of an avocado before blogging.

I started to learn more about how important it is to buy local foods.
How fantastic Gouda tastes on sandwich's or by itself.
I learned about the beauty of a roasted tomato and oil based pastas.
I discovered squash.

The more I started to read about these amazing recipes and the more I started to research actual food blogs, the more I started to become more curious.

I was yearning to try the recipes that I had found so I made my family my guinea pig and I had a lot of failed recipes. I'll never forget the time when I attempted to make Chicken Parmesan and it was seriously the most disgusting thing I've ever made. I was so new to cooking back then and probably no one around to answer my questions... and so it flopped. Big time. 

Which leads me to my next point... Questions.
In my first year of cooking (and even a little bit now), I asked a LOT of questions. I would second guess absolutely everything I made whether it was about measurements, substituting ingredients (which I would try not to do because I didn't know what tasted good with what), or what I should make as a side dish. I didn't understand anything so I would hound my mom and step mom about what to do. I seriously think this was the best thing I ever did in cooking rather than try and learn everything on my own.

Now when I cook, I can imagine flavors in my head (or mouth?) and know what ingredients and food products compliment each other.

I know (a little bit more) about measurements and if not, there's always Google!

I know what kind of spices or cheese I can use in place of something I don't have according to a recipe.

Even though I am still learning and would consider myself in a Culinary "Intermediate" level, my questions about cooking go more like this:

"What should I make for dessert? The Lemon Meringue or the Cheesecake?"
"Parmesan or Mozzarella...or both?"
"What type of wine should we pair with this meal?"

Or my personal favorite question....

"Are you sure you know what you're doing?"

Culinary Rant

Sometimes, I feel as though I spend way too much time thinking about what it is that I want to do for a living and not enough time making it happen.

My mind is constantly changing dreams & aspirations and I always feel like I'm at a complete loss for what I actually really want to be. What will make me happier than anything? What is that thing that I need?

I read a nice new blog today called Making Things Happen. Have you heard of it?

It basically allowed me to look at my life and really think "what are the things that make me happiest in this whole world?"

The only thing I could really think of was cooking.

Now I don't know if this is just another one of my mind changes. I mean a year ago I thought the only thing that would make me happiest was working with troubled kids. But now... I'm not so sure. I love kids don't get me wrong... but do I really want to turn off all my emotion at the risk of being bullied by children who don't know any better for the rest of my life? I'm the most sensitive person I know and I just don't know if I can do it.

So I really sat down and thought when am I at my most happiest? When do I feel like the whole world is easy and fun? And cooking was the activity that just kept coming back and back and back.

Cooking is by far my favorite thing to do. I love experimenting with new ingredients and recipes and I barely ever make anything that's pre-packaged or frozen besides on the very rare occasion (I love me some Sidekicks!).  And the best part about cooking is that there is almost something new to learn and discover!

I'm still an intermediate cook and sometimes my recipes are complete flops but I feel like it's all a part of the package.

I sometimes think about my future and picture myself working for a small local food service company where the menu can constantly change. Whether it's a catering business (which was an idea I've thought of before) or a small bistro. All I know, is I'd never want to cook for a chain... I'd want to be able to be creative and use real, whole ingredients that make people forget who they are!!!

Sigh... I'm drifting off into my dream land. But who says it has to be a dream?

"Be a fearless cook & never apologize" -Julia Child