My friends know that I love to cook and I love to travel. Frequently one inspires the other. Recently Debra and I moved to Burbank. When we decided to move back to Southern California, we made a commitment to living more sustainably -- eating heathly, living close to jobs, eating out less, saving money, and spending less time in cars.We've been pretty successful in our goals so far and I've really enjoyed shopping for fresh produce at the local farmer's market and cooking fresh foods at home. I love to cook, but we've downsized from the very large kitchen in Eugene, where we rarely cooked, to a very tiny kitchen in Burbank where I cook quite frequently.
I figured if I can do it, anybody can do it! And since all of my friends (especially my Facebook friends) know that I love to over-share... well, I've decided to start this food & cooking blog so I can share my love of food, cooking and the travel experiences that inspire both!
Pictured above: My kitchen in Burbank where I love to keep fresh herbs on hand -- like cilantro, parsley and basil -- as well as fresh citrus like lemons and limes. I use all of these ingredients frequently in my cooking.
I don't use cookbooks or recipes -- but I do love to watch the Food channel and read the food and cooking blogs of my friends -- some of which are listed on the right. I'll be adding more over time. I'd like to thank Michelle Fabio and Christina Denninghoff for inspiring me to start this blog. Christina and I went to high school together in Eugene, Oregon, and she lives with her family in Germany. It's been many, many moons since I visited Christina in Germany. Michelle I've never met -- or at least not in person. She's an expat living in Italy who inspires people like me to their own dreams with her wonderful blog. Thanks to the Internet, Blogs and Facebook, Michelle and Christina and just two of my global neighbors and friends.One last thing: As an over-sharer, I love feedback and interaction with people who might be looking at my blog. So please feel free to post comments or ask questions -- or share your own inspirations and experiences!
I'm intrigued that you don't use recipes or cook books. Do you like to read cookbooks? High quality cook books can be a literary adventure. I've really liked Rick Steves' Mexican cookbooks, for example. The James Beard books are lovely to read as an Oregonian (and someone who likes NYC). Your blog is a form of cook book. I'm guessing you want to be creative about what you have on hand but wondering how you keep track of interesting combinations. Thanks for making this.
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for the kind words, Eric...looking great so far!
ReplyDelete@Michelle -- you're welcome. You blog always makes me hungry (or makes me want to visit Italy again)!
ReplyDelete@Betsy -- thanks for posting! You know me, I'm not one for rigid formality, and I do like to be creative. I've probably never made the same dish exactly the same the second or third time, so you might call it cooking improv! If something works, it usually sticks with me so I can repeat it pretty closely, but I'm not much into measuring the details. Debra likes cookbooks and we have a number of them. I like looking at the pictures. And I do enjoy watching the cooks on food channel like Giada de Laurentiis and Ina Garner (did you know she worked for the Nixon White House on nuclear issues?). Ironically, as a writer, I prefer pictures over words. Perhaps that's why I spent so much time working in an industry that turns words into pictures.