A Bit of Background...

I've never been much of a cook. It's not because I don't want to. In my head I think up all these wonderful recipes and meals. I watch enough cooking shows that you'd think I'd at least absorb some sort of skill through the television. But the reality of the matter is that when it comes to whipping stuff up in the kitchen, it is not an effortless, easy task for me. Sometimes, it's not even (dare I say it) enjoyable.

During my post-college years, when I was teaching high school and my husband was a full time student, you would have been more apt to find take-out menus and old pizza boxes scattered around, than you would dirty dish pans and recipes.

When I got pregnant, I had all these hopes of harnessing the innate cooking skills that my mother, grandmother and mother-in-law posses and somehow, overnight, would turn into a goddess in the kitchen. I thought that maybe it was some gene that only kicked in once you pushed out a baby.

Sadly, it wasn't the case. Food still burned, wasn't flavorful enough or was just too tedious to make. It wasn't for lack of trying, however. I attempted a variety of recipes, and while we had some successes, most were big flops. My heart just wasn't into it.

Fast forward almost four years and I now cook with vegetables and herbs from my own garden, am a member of a local meat CSA and prepare (on occasion delicious!) meals on a regular basis. One of my goals with this blog is to take a look at how I went from being a master of ordering in to somebody who strives to cook on a daily basis...and might actually be enjoying it.

Monday night potluck was one of the most influential reasons behind this change, and so while I document and reflect on these current weekly dinners, I hope to also investigate the other reasons for my culinary switch. So, be on the look out for recipes, pictures of tantalizing dishes and musings on food, community and my journey to being an almost-chef.