ANOTHER food blog? What's so special about THIS one?

Here's the deal: I love food. I love cooking. But I also love to do lots of other things - knit, play with my kids, watch Battlestar Galactica with my husband, read, ride my bike, walk the dog. Add to that list all the things I need to do in a day, and most of the time I don't feel like spending a lot more time than is necessary in the kitchen. Even though I adore cooking, there are so many other things to do in this great big interesting life! I confess that after years of trying to make it a habit, I'm allergic to meal plans - the kind where you sit down at the beginning of the week and painstakingly record all the ingredients for all the recipes you have carefully selected for this week's consumption after poring through your many cookbooks. Usually, I don't like to decide what I'm making for dinner until that day - we might be in the mood for something specific, or we might be having a truly frantic-busy or low energy day. I like to adjust things accordingly, on the fly. But, I still want my cooking to be as streamlined and simple as possible. I've found a way that works for me - I can get fabulous, tasty meals on the table in very little time, with very little advance planning. I will share with you everything I've learned about how to do that, here in this blog.

What you won't find here: Well, to be perfectly frank - eggplant, beets, cilantro and mushrooms; either I or someone in my family genuinely abhors them! If those happen to be your favourite foods, I hope you'll stick around anyway. I believe you should cook foods that genuinely please you and the people you're cooking for. I also believe that a good recipe is fluid, rather than carved-in-stone; it can shift easily to accommodate both your personal taste preferences and whatever's about to expire at the bottom of the vegetable crisper. As far as I'm concerned, the only rule in cooking is THERE ARE NO RULES. If you don't like the way I've suggested, by all means do it your way instead! Have fun, improvise, experiment - it's all good!

Why am I qualified to write this blog? Food has been a passion of mine for most of my life. I think I was born with a wooden spoon in my hand! From the time I was very young, I was playing around and experimenting in the kitchen. Surprisingly enough, there have been relatively few cooking disasters in my kitchen career; even as a child I seemed to have an instinct that allowed me to adjust things on the fly and have a finished product that was at least edible (if not quite fantastic). As a young teen I spent hours and hours copying recipes out of my mother's cookbooks to add to my ever-growing personal recipe files (no, as you might have guessed, I was not part of the "cool" crowd!) As a university student, I became more focused on the nutritional aspects of food, and ended up with both a Bachelor's and Master's Degree in nutrition. I worked as a Registered Dietitian for a decade, until I could no longer ignore my first true love. I have now come back to playing in the kitchen and devoting as much time as possible to feeding my food passion (no pun intended, of course!)

This blog is the culmination of everything I have learned in over 25 yrs of messing around with food. I'm still learning, inventing and playing more every day, and I'll be sharing as I go! My time in the kitchen has always been at least as much about nourishing my soul as it's been about feeding anyone. It is my deep desire that if you find cooking to be mostly a dreaded chore or a benign necessity, that you can find some ways to make it quicker, easier, and more fun. I hope you will find both inspiration and practical suggestions to make your cooking experience more joyous and satisfying. I hope that anyone stopping by feels comfortable to leave a comment or two, to join in the conversation. I picture us all pulled up at comfy chairs around the kitchen table, sharing a friendly chat about everything to do with food and cooking that's fast, fun, frugal, and fabulous!