Culinary Adventure

Let the record state: Today, July 19, 2012, the adventure begins.

Some of my earliest memories are of watching my mom in the kitchen. Often to the dismay of my brother and I, she insisted we ate only healthy home-cooked meals. Growing up I was often jealous of my friends' lunches of processed snacks and dinners of McDonald's Happy Meals. I could not explain to my mother enough how unappealing bland brown rice, raw grated beets or cabbage soup is to a child. Sadly, my complaints fell on what I had considered to be deaf ears.

My mother started getting us involved in cooking at a young age. I cooked my first scrambled eggs when I was four... and nearly burned the house down. I was a very ambitious child.

When I got a little older, I took mostly to baking (as I was not the most coordinated with knives and was thoroughly disgusted with the idea of touching raw meat). Even then, I could not quite get into the idea of measuring and mixing all of the ingredients. Therefore, cookie-cakes made of a boxed cookie mix became my specialty. I'll tell you, I was determined to be the best cookie-cake baker the world ever saw. I'll have to post a picture of my particular favorite I made in the shape of the state of California.

It was not until I hit high school age that I finally began to see the many values of cooking. For one, I finally started reading labels with the capacity to understand that chemicals is not real food. Furthermore, that through my mom cooking every night she was expressing her love through food... except perhaps for that cabbage soup.

I began to realize how important cooking is to my family. Some of the only things we have left of our family a few generations back are recipes. The food we cook as a family is a part of who we are. After that light bulb moment, it did not take long for cooking to become a huge part of my life.

Another thing my mother taught me is improvising with what you have. There were times when we did not have a whole lot, but she always knew how to create a meal out of whatever we did have. This skill she has passed on to me. I once had nothing but peanut butter, a chocolate bar, butter and some wafer cookies in my place and had to make a dessert. The result was something I dubbed Tree Bark (because of how it looked, not how it tasted).

Through this blog I seek to pass my love for cooking and the improvision skill on to all of you, my readers. I only have a few rules before spilling my secrets.

1. EVERYONE CAN COOK! You might not become a master chef, but everyone can learn the basics.
2. Don't be afraid to get messy. You won't know if a recipe will work until you try it.
3. Find ideas and make them your own. I find a lot of recipes on blog and usually give them a twist to make them my own; or, combine elements from similar recipes to create a new one.
4. Add some flavor to your life. I love to travel, but don't have lots of money to do so. I comb blogs for authentic recipes from various countries and cultures when I get that itch to try something new.
5. Add some music and dance around your kitchen while you cook. My family always knows they are going to have something good to eat in a few hours whenever they hear some good tunes coming from the kitchen. On the bad days, nothing releases stress better for me than putting on some good music, dancing around the kitchen and cooking a great meal or dessert.

Well, there you have it. Hope you enjoy this blog as much as I do. Feel free to comment and let me know what you add to recipes to change things up. Looking forward to this taking culinary journey with you all.

Preview of recipes to come:

Dark Chocolate Heart Shapes Brownies with Chocolate Cherry Dove Candy Hearts

Vanilla Cupcakes with Strawberry Kiwi Filling and Kiwi Cream Cheese Icing

My own take on Israeli Krembo