seven answers

Good questions people! Guess I should actually answer them, huh?

Sarah asked: How did you start (and continue) your process of learning to cook. I am so amazing by your creativity in the kitchen!

And when you say "my creativity in the kitchen" is that a good thing?! Because there have been some impressive failures, only some being crappy enough to make the blog! :)

Seriously though, I learned how to cook from my mom, who else?! We grew up eating homemade meals 99% of the time as a family around the table. I never recall a time when we ate Hamburger Helper and only when McDonalds offered their mini beanie babies (remember those?!) Happy Meals did we ever frequent that establishment on a weekly (monthly?) basis.

My best friend Laura and I would alway be cooking something up when hanging out, the two most vivid memories are of us making peppermint candies and that one time when we made cookies and mistakenly used powdered sugar instead of flour. Yeah, my dad got a good chuckle out of that one when he pointed out our mistake!

As a senior in high school I whole-heartedly wanted to go to culinary school to pursue my passion for food, but was convinced that that route was not academic enough.

I revisited that idea when I graduated college and then about every six months or so after that until this very day...

My creativity in the kitchen comes from my inability to follow a recipe to the "T" much to my sister's chagrin. If a recipe calls for one ingredient - I find a reason to add at least six more...and then a whole lotta garlic.

I get inspiration for recipes from a lot of great cooking blogs, cookbooks, and magazines - and loosely base some of my kitchen creations from them. And then some days when an intense craving for chocolate strikes, I throw a few ingredients into a bowl, bake it and end up with something amazing.

So long answer short - there is a lot of trial and error going on in my kitchen. Thankfully, I have a husband who is open to trying just about anything.

We'll stick with the food related questions tonight:

Nicole and Angie asked what my not so favorite foods are.

My least favorite veggie - chard. 100% absolutely without a doubt, chard. Eewwww. I don't think I had ever eaten chard until last summer when Nic and I were drowning in it every week when we picked up our CSA box. I detest it so much so that we did not sign up to receive the spring CSA box again this year.

My three least favorite foods: mayonnaise (gross), ummmm....drawing a blank. I don't really hate any food. I definitely steer clear from fake and processed foods though.

My favorite food (thanks for asking Lisa!) would have to be blueberries. I could eat them by the 40 pound box when blueberry season rolls around. (Mom - is it time to place our order yet?!) A more substantial food choice would be pizza. Nothing beats a homemade pizza topped with tomatoes, basil, garlic and fresh mozzarella. Yummmmmmmm.


I could talk about food all night. My life revolves around what I plan on cooking next...that's not a bad thing, right?!

I'll get to some more questions tomorrow.