adventures in cooking

Part I. Let me just say first off, that I am really grateful that my GF likes my cooking. We have a very similar pallet, so when I put a ton of garlic and/or lemon on something, we are both quite happy.

Part II. I had forgotten how much I actually like cooking. Two things need to be in place for me to like cooking, however. 1) I have to have the time/energy, which I do now that I have quit my full-time job, 2) I have to have the 'space' to cook. That includes energetic space as well as having everything handy that I need to take ownership of the cooking space. And I certainly have both of those here.

Part III. My ex Leah and I used to joke about my mother's (and my, for some time) recipes for a number of dishes. Sloppy Joes-tomato sauce, hamburger, salt/pepper; Spaghetti Sauce-tomato sauce, hamburger, salt/pepper; goulash- tomato sauce, hamburger, salt/pepper; Stuffed Bell Pepper... you get the idea. After my mother started back to having 'nervous breakdowns' when I was 10 or so, I took over the cooking...and I was usually the only one eating, so those were my basic recipes, plus mac & cheese. When I was in high school I started experimenting with spices and food combinations, and discovered that food could taste really good with the proper artistic flare. Please don't take it that I am saying that I developed into a gourmet chef, but the point of this whole thing is that I really enjoy being in the kitchen, trying to make something taste better than it did before.