I suppose for my first posting I should explain why I have decided to blog.

I guess it’s fairly prosaic to say I have a love affair with food. We all do, right? Mine started at grandma’s house with classic bolognese. Simmered all day–the smell was so enticing you could hardly play in the house without being lured to the kitchen on tiptoe to stick your finger into the pot. Trust me, the lick was worth the scold!

My next memories of food-love go to the grand cookie extravaganza that my mother pulled off every December. I recall making dozens and dozens of pecan crescents, chocolate swirls, butter cookies, gingerbread men, and something truly delectable called potato chip cookies! Yes, it sound’s strange, but the culmination of simple, sweet shortbread with salty, crunchy potato chips in each bite is divine! Even now, the only thing I can think of that might improve upon potato chip cookies is…potato chip cookies drizzled with chocolate!

As a teenager I had the opportunity to travel and help with mission work every summer. Ages 14-22 I traveled to China, Thailand, India 3 times, Liberia, and Cameroon. As you can imagine my eyes were truly opened to a world of culinary possibilities–among other things. The endless smells of wildly exciting open air markets. Loud chattering over the price of meat hanging from a clothesline. Baskets and baskets full of spices I had never seen or heard of. Dried fish leather, street meat on a stick, naan. Ah, naan! There’s just nothing like freshly baked naan, slathered in garlic butter at an open air market! It’s an experience we all should be so lucky to have.

Every summer I would keep a journal of my daily work, my interludes with new friends, and the life lessons a young girl can only learn by taking her eyes off herself and focusing them on the much greater needs of others. I also took notes on the flavorful dishes I had experienced. I didn’t know it at the time, but that was my introduction to recipe writing. I would come home at the end of each summer and try to replicate some of the foods I had experienced; now-and-again with success.

Over the years cooking has become a frequent method of self-expression, my way to communicate love, and possibly my calling? One husband, two children, 2 careers, and a bundle of little revelations later; I have decided to document the lessons I’ve learned and the recipes that followed. I hope you enjoy them!