A Note of Explanation, An Intro, As It Were

I love food. I love my family. I love my friends. I love fish. I love fresh fruit.  I love Firebird Suite by Stravinsky. I love french bread. I love fruit bars. I love flying. I love firelight. I love films. I also love a lot of things that don't begin with the letter F, but once I got going... sometimes I like themes & lists.

But the point is really in those first loves--I love food, family, & friends. Mostly, I like food because it usually carries stories. Some meals are forever connected to certain memories. Some recipes come with the tale of how they have evolved because of circumstances. Some foods always take you back to a specific place & time. The kitchen is definitely the heart of my house; all of my friends have learned that if they come to my house hungry, they probably won't leave that way. My mama, aka the Gooj, is a whiz in the kitchen. She even makes turkey sandwiches better than anyone else. A good meal can make dinner with your best friends that much better or carry you through an extremely awkward first date. Cooking with someone can teach you a lot about how they think, how they work, how they play.

I've just started reading A Homemade Life by Molly Wizenberg, the creator of Orangette, a blog about recipes & the stories that go with them. I really think she & I should be friends; we both love food, we both don't remember ever really learning to cook--it just happened, we both lack the ability to follow a recipe precisely, & we both have a tendency to talk too much & start rambling after a while...oh. Yeah. Like that.

If you're a follower of this lovely little blog o' mine, you may have noticed that recently there have been a lot fewer random ramblings & a lot more recipes. This has been both intentional & a natural evolution. This switch from musings to measurements might seem a bit... well... boring. But food is a part of life, like it or not. You can scarf down a sandwich begrudgingly, or you can celebrate the variety of flavors that fill the earth. I've definitely done both. I like taking the time to savor a meal much better.

So, if you've been wondering why I've sounded more like Julia Child lately, it's because I'm trying to tell my stories in a slightly different way--via recipe.

Bon Appétit!