About Me

For as long as I can remember, I have been passionate about food. I didn't know it at the time, but even at 7 years of age I was a foodie. While most children were playing house or cops and robbers, I was recruiting my brother to be the waiter in my "restaurant". My parents would patiently sit through five course meals consisting of such delicacies as potato chip encrusted oven-fried chicken from my Better Homes and Gardens Children's Cookbook (which I still have on my shelves, by the way). I was also given the freedom to experiment in the kitchen as I grew up, which I did, sometimes to my "taster's" dismay. As I went through college and graduate school, I often found myself whipping up meals for friends or giving out samples of a new cookie recipe that I had tried. It was also during this time that I started my now massive cookbook collection (yes, my husband has threatened an intervention) and first discovered the Food Network (remember "Hot Off the Grill With Bobby Flay" or "Ready, Set, Cook" anyone??).

Not a day goes by that I am not in the kitchen. Sometimes I am working on a new recipe for one of the many competitions that I enter (this is a relatively new hobby, and I am hooked!) Other days I am decorating a cake for a friend's birthday or simply preparing dinner. I subscribe to pretty much every cooking magazine and go through them methodically each month, selecting new recipes to try, usually adding my own unique variation. Food Network is constantly on (try watching Paula Deen make Krispy Kreme Bread Puddin' when you are on the treadmill--agony!), so the entire household is familiar with Rach, Bobby, and Alton, and I occasionally catch my husband pausing the channel changer to pick up a grilling tip or two from the grillmaster himself.

This blog serves as another outlet to share my cooking passion. After I prepare a blog-worthy recips, I'll post it, hopefully with a nice, tasty-looking picture, and if I become really advanced (don't hold your breath), perhaps a video. Along with the recipes, I'll offer you tips, suggestions, and recommendations for ingredient substitutions. Occasionally I'll throw in product or cookbook recommendations too.

What qualifies me to be a credible resource for all of the above? No, I did not attend culinary school and I am pretty much self-taught. I can promise you that I know food and I love food. I love to learn about it, talk about it, and work with it. I hope that this will be clear as time goes by.

I look forward to hearing your feedback, suggestions, and ideas in the future!

-Julie