Project Food Blog...This is so fun!

Wow!  Little did I know when I started this adventure that food blogging (blogging, in general?) was sooo popular.  At first, I really tried the everyday thing and then once a week but I just don't adhere to schedules very well especially when I have SO MUCH going on in my little cooking life.  But who doesn't love a little healthy competition so how could I resist entering into the Next Food Blog Star challenge?  What better way to connect with new people and, bonus! hone my blogging skills.  And, who knows, maybe win?!  In any event...it's going to be great fun.  Best of luck to everyone!  Back to my little culinary space...I am trying to get my catering kitchen open...this has been no mean feat...did I spell all of that right?!  Between city permits and the vent hood workers...I am just about to call it a day.  I can't though, love it too much and it's a super cool space with a great vibe...I've got events scheduled, chairs coming in, furniture assembled, etc., etc., etc....
What really keeps me going is teaching as many people as possible about cooking.  I can't wait to get that kitchen open so that I can do some hands-on classes and there are lots of my students (from previous classes) who are chomping at the bit!!  In the meantime, I have been sharing recipes, techniques, restaurant reviews (especially when I feel passionately about how well or how badly someone is doing something!), personal opinions (of which I have many) and anything else I can think of...having to do with food! 

When I am teaching, my favorite thing to tell my students is "I have no secrets and my intention is to put myself out of business so that you go home and cook, have an absolutely lovely time and you don't NEED me anymore!"  I don't get these chefs who leave details or ingredients out of their recipes or their tips.  What is the point?  I want people to have as much fun cooking as I do.  Just take a look at this group at one of my classes.  So I don't want my students to need me...I want them to come to the classes for fun and inspiration because they WANT to come and learn about everything from making mozzarella to frenching a rack of lamb to anything skewered on the grill.  We do it all!

When I can't teach a class, my blog has become my connection with my current students and, hopefully, has interested lots and lots of people.  If I can show the beauty of food and express the excitement I feel when I'm cooking so that others experience it then I have accomplished my task.  I want people to be as excited about it as I am...take it all home and then "cook without a parachute".  That means, you don't have to have a recipe to do something delicious in your kitchen.  Here is another example...pesto!  Love it, love it, love it.  I published this photo a month or so ago when I was so excited to be making pesto with the basil I just picked from my boyfriend's incredible vegetable garden.  Here it is again...this is in the food processor, right before the basil, the parm and the nuts came together and made pesto love...can you believe how huge those leaves are?  And, I don't feel compelled to use pine nuts all the time.  In this recipe, I used walnuts.  When the pecans are falling off the trees all over Oklahoma, I use our rich, sweet Native pecans.  I like to say that if you know your ingredients...throw the rules out the window and go with what speaks to you.  That is what I do and that is what I encourage everyone to do. 

Have a great time. 

Just go for it!