Hello, World.

I blame my dad. He's always been very adventurous in the kitchen. A Sunday afternoon standard: a concoction named Dad Soup. It's where he'd take whatever was leftover in the pantry and fridge and somehow make something delicious out of it -- at least most of the time. When it didn't turn out right, we still ate it, appreciating the good parts and calculating where it went wrong.

Dad's exploits in the kitchen are in contrast to my mom's more standard approach of sticking with the classics as they are. She never followed a recipe but the ones in her head. Louisiana okra gumbo, homemade chicken noodle soup, roundsteak and rice and gravy... These were the everyday feasts I grew up on and that I make my mom make every time I visit.

I've been cooking a lot lately. It's probably because I finally have a kitchen instead of just, like, a fridge and a microwave. More than one person can stand in it! (And dogs.)



I'm not just a recipe-follower; I am the world's best recipe-adulterator. I flip through cookbooks and surf the Internet looking for them, but I never follow them exactly. Usually, I pick a few that sound promising and combine the parts I like. A recent success (white chili, mm) was an amalgamation of three or four recipes I found online plus my own experiences and preferences for chili.

Of course, sometimes things bomb. My now-famous chocolate and organic peanut butter icing took four or five tries until I finally decided that I had a "recipe" -- though I'm sure next time I make it, it'll change yet again. ... I'm still working on my bottom-of-the-bag frosted shredded wheat cookie recipe. (I'll post some pictures from that trial {and error!} soon.)

I also blame my dad for this blog. He's a writer and a good one to boot, so I'd like to think that I, too, have something interesting to say that someone would want to read out there in cyberspace.

When consuming this blog, I only ask one thing: don't follow my recipes. I'll share my adventures in experimental cookery and give you my "recipes" -- but I hope that you take what you like, leave what you don't and make meals that you enjoy every part of.