Introduction

A Fledgling Foodie is Born

A rationale for blogging about food.

I grew up in a household of meat-and-potato eaters. Strictly meat and potato eaters. In other words, not gastronomically adventurous. Cooking was considered housework, conducted faithfully yet unenthusiastically three times a day whether  we-- my five siblings and I-- were hungry or not. Thus I grew up mystified by "those" women (and men) whose eyes sparkled like pilot lights at the sight of slick gourmet magazines or dusty antique cookbooks. This was the 70's, my friends. I was a new and inept housewife who sought every conceivable kitchen shortcut known to busy moms everywhere. The simpler the recipe, the quicker the method, the better I liked it. This I admit.  Ruefully. The invention of the microwave oven--ooh-la la. And a canned-soup casserole? My best friend.  Until...

Enter the Food Network. (What a concept. An entire network devoted to cooking!)

I know, I know, what fan of Emeril Live or the Barefoot Contessa doesn't claim rights to some measure of Chef-dom? (At the time, me, that's who.) Enter 30- Minute Meals. You can understand the attraction, right? Enter an ill-conceived, last-minute dinner party for friends.  Enter Rachel Ray's Parmigiano & Herb Chicken.  (What? Perhaps you were expecting Julia Child's Beef  Bourguignon?)

Admittedly, as recipes go, Ray's chicken was uncomplicated and allegedly quick, doable in 30 minutes. Allegedly. Okay, so it took me 90 minutes. But still... I did it! One taste of homemade food, real food, the rare adulation of sated friends, the request for seconds from (gulp) family... added up to a meager but delicious bite of success....

And a fledgling foodie was born. 

She cooked. She learned. She grew. She even  developed a passion for gourmet magazines and kitchen tools, special-edition cookbooks, Farmer's Markets, gourmet cheeses, Viking pots and pans, mother sauce, wine pairings and, yes, Julia's beef bourguignon. Not long after, the art of revamping old favorites from Grandma's recipe file occupied my afternoons.

So revamping...

Enter family (and often not very exciting) recipes. Combine this with my obsessive inability to leave well enough alone, coupled with complications surrounding an emerging Empty Nest Syndrome. Enter a shrinking budget and a shrinking family. And Meals for Two on a Budget for One was born, well... conceived. Enter Significant other; my fellow fifty-something spouse of 30 something years and his alarming hypertensive self. Enter healthful alternatives to artery-clogging, salt-laden, thigh inflating dishes....

Enter, me. Here. Now. Sharing what I know--and don't know-- about food and cooking. Oh, and about life. Is there a difference?