Hiatus

I've been thinking about some things in my life that I feel passionately about. One is cooking. It's not just food for me - it's creating something that looks and tastes good. It's taking raw ingredients and combining them to make something pleasing to the eye and the palate. It's hearing that "Wow! This is great!" and tasting that first burst of flavor. I don't really know when I started to feel this way. I've grown up around cooking and cookbooks. My mom has been writing and publishing her own cookbooks since 1984. She's tested recipes and made many a patty for our family to try. But I don't think my romance with cooking necessarily came from her. I know that the summer that I reluctantly agreed to stay home and test recipes for her cookbook opened my eyes to the art of creating with food. But from there it just blossomed... For Christmas one year my sister-in-law gave me what has become one of my favorite presents - the New Best Recipe cookbooks. It is a the dictionary of cookbooks - including wonderful recipes, it's got diagrams, explanations, and lots of interesting cooking facts. This Christmas my collection grew larger with the International Best Recipe book from my other sister-in-law. I can't wait to make the dishes from other countries.

I desperately wish that I could have gone to cooking school. I ache to be formally trained in the art of cooking. Maybe I will someday... I still need to learn to make macaroni and cheese. (The only time I tried it, it tasted like flour.)