Aren't those cute? Heart-shaped pancake muffins. Think muffins—but lighter, fluffier, and perfect with maple syrup.
I love to cook. And to bake. And to share. And to eat. I love it all.
But I'm no professional. I have a day job (one that I love), and plenty of other things going on in my life. Cooking is the thing I do when I'm inspired or stressed, alone or with others, heart full of joy or full of sorrow. Food preparation is like medicine for the mind. Eating it like medicine for the body. And (maybe best of all) sharing it like medicine for the heart.
I was inspired by one of my favorite cooking resources, The Kitchn, to begin this blog. I love their cookbook; it is full of basic recipes, cooking essentials 101, tips and techniques, and even kitchen meditations. One of their tips for meal planning is to keep a meal journal (page 102). I often post my food on Instagram or Facebook, but I want to keep track of which meals were a hit, which I modified (and which might need to be modified next time), and which I want to make over and over again.
A few pieces of (nearly-useless) information about my cooking philosophy:
- I prefer a real-life, hard copy, physically present cookbook. Not because I think it's superior in some way to recipes posted online (of course not!!) but because it's much easier to use while I'm in cooking mode. Using my phone or my laptop for cooking is a colossal annoyance because the screen constantly goes to sleep, the batteries die, and I'm always worrying about spilling or splashing or dunking it. A cookbook is just better in this case, because it's okay to get the pages a little dirty and I never lose my place.
Just a little aside... I probably (at least for the forseeable future) will not be posting my own recipes. Because, well *ahem* I don't have any yet. I'm just not there yet. Hope that's not a deal-breaker!
- Mise en place. All the time. Forever. This is a french cooking term which refers to setting up the ingredients and tools ahead of time so cooking is a breeze. This mysterious little phrase saved my cooking life and made me a better cook. Before I begin a dish, I always read the recipe ahead of time, looking up any techniques or ingredients I am not familiar with. Then I make sure I have everything I need set out—chopping, dicing, peeling, whatever. No sense dicing the onions between steps two and three while the pan is smoking! I also always keep a bowl for food scraps and leftover bits I won't use. These simple habits make the entire undertaking a much more successful one.
- I refuse to participate in righteous eating. I know, I know... beef is bad for the environment, butter is can contribute to heart disease, sugar and cheese are as addicting as drugs. This is called fear-mongering, and it ultimately encourages eating disorders and subsequent nutrient deficiencies. Can we just agree from the get-go that it's okay to cook light dishes sometimes, fattening dishes at other times, and to make balanced choices no matter what? Okay? Okay.
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A little more about me:
When I'm not wearing my chef's hat, I'm mostly working. I have a super wonderful fun job that I love, and that I worked really hard to get. I spent nearly ten years being miserable in various positions until I decided to go back to school for my bachelor's degree (while working full-time) so I could pursue more satisfying work. It was worth it, but it also meant a lot of my favorite things (like cooking) had to be put on hold for awhile as I spent every waking moment either working or doing homework—for two years straight. How do you know you love something? When you spend two years dreaming about the day you won't have to do all the other things that are not that thing. That's how I knew I loved cooking—because I dreamed about it constantly for two years while basically shoveling fast food or TV dinners when I had a spare two minutes so I could at least keep on being alive, haha. Needless to say, I'm pretty excited to be back at it.
Other things I like to do: I love to lift weight, and it is my preferred physical activity. It does mean I have a lot of caloric freedom as lifting heavy things requires like ALL of the food, but I would love it anyway because it is incredibly fun and rewarding. I also love music and listening to music, as well as reading (I am part of a book club a friend and I started a few years ago), and I love to travel. Hanging out with my husband is pretty much the best. He has a traveling job, so he's gone a bit—but the good news is that he has a pickier palate than I, and when he's gone I can try lots of dishes he would rather starve than have to eat, ha.
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