Let's Start at the Beginning

I have a few passions in life: Dance, writing, and cooking seem to be the three that stand out the most. I figured I might as well see if I can combine two of my passions, the writing and the cooking--I do dance around my kitchen so I guess that could be considered combining all three of my passions into one. And I've always wanted to try my hand at blogging, so we'll see how this goes!

Now I've always been pretty good at making cookies and doing the whole baking thing. When I was younger I mastered the art of making chocolate chip cookie dough, just for the pure joy of eating the dough and not even making the cookies some of the time. Let's face it, chocolate chip cookies are great, but the dough is clearly the best part...raw eggs and all.Not really the healthiest way to go...I'm sure there's a way to figure out how to make it without the raw eggs.

But, anywho... it's been in the last 8 or so months that I've decided to branch out and dip my toes into other areas of cooking. To me baking/cooking has always seemed simple enough, you just follow the recipe and it should turn out the way it's supposed to. That's not really the case 100% of the time. My friends always ask me what my secret is to making food that looks and tastes so good, my response is usually that I follow a recipe or just follow my instinct on what I think will taste good. I add more of some ingredients, less of others and it just kinda works out! Over the past couple of years I've discovered little things that can largely affect the way food turns out, sometimes a little extra flour goes a long way and trying different spice combinations works out for the better. Of course, there are times when there are things that just do not turn out no matter what I try.

The most important thing I've learned though is to just go with what feels right, if you think you need to add something or take something out go for it! What's the worst that can happen? Okay, okay when dealing with food yeah, a lot of "bad" things could happen. Just make sure your food is always cooked properly and pretty much anything else you can play around with. I always do my best to have fun while I'm in the kitchen, I expect to make a mess, I expect to trip over one or two of the three dogs, and I expect to drop stuff on the floor and have to toss it--granted, I try really hard not to do that, it's a waste of food! Accidents in the kitchen happen, but whatever if it makes an amusing story what's the harm? Bottom line is basically you just need to trust yourself in the kitchen and then you can see how things go. Make a mistake? No worries now you know not to do it next time!

I have so much fun in my kitchen, I want others to enjoy it as well! I'll post recipes that I've made, pictures, and of course those amusing little stories, which will almost always involve something about my dog, since it's pretty much impossible for me to be in the kitchen without her sitting at my feet drooling on the floor.

'Til next time!!