On Cooking

One of my greatest passions is for cooking. I love food. I love eating food, and preparing food, and food presentation as a form of art. I even love shopping for food, searching out new ingredients, learning how to select the best produce, filling my cart with new and exciting possibilities. For me, food is more than just a vehicle to get nutrients into my body. It’s one of my hobbies.

I did not always like to cook. Growing up, I never learned to cook, and also never learned appreciation for a home cooked meal. As a child and a teenager, I would much rather get fast food or frozen snacks. I started learning to cook when I was 19, but my eyes were really opened up to the world of food when I went vegetarian at age 21. I started reading websites and books about vegetarianism, and started leaning about vegetables I never knew existed. My family doesn’t eat many veggies, so I didn’t know much about them. Growing up, my grandma was out primary cook, and she does not like to season her food very much at all. She also hates garlic (tragedy!). I had no context for the vast array of flavors and spices out there! As I began experimenting with spices and vegetables and cooking techniques, my taste preferences changed dramatically. I always hated onions as a kid, but now I use them in everything! I now love veggies, and I also love ethnic dishes. I also learned how to bake from scratch instead of from a box, and there really is no other way! Muffins from scratch only take a couple minutes longer to whip up than muffins from a box, and use fresher and healthier ingredients than boxed mixes.

I am blessed to be marrying a man who has adventurous tastes! When we met he was not a vegetarian, but he had no reservations about trying tofu or bean burgers or anything else. He loves my cooking so much that he now eats almost exclusively vegetarian too. The only challenge is scaling meals down to fit just the 2 of us. I really do find it easier to cook for a crowd. This is part of the reason that I love having dinner guests and throwing parties.

I will probably talk about food a lot on this blog. I will probably include pictures from time to time. Right now I have a crappy camera, but hopefully we will be getting a new one soon. I also intend to do some product reviews and kitchen tips.