A Love Affair from the Start

I decided to start this blog so I could combine two of my favorite things...Writing and Food! Am I modeling "Julie and Julia" a bit...sure, but this blog is not so much just about cooking but,  the love of food in general. Just not what I create but what others create as well. It also allows me to write creatively which I have not really been able to do since my Rowan Journalism degree in '03. Ah....a  food writer,  one of my dream jobs.

I am not really sure when my love affair with food began, but I believe it was at an early age. When most toddlers were eating chicken fingers and french fries, I was eating veal parmesan. My grandmother said it was "brain food" and it was she who first introduced me to really good food. She has been gone for 9.5 years and to this day I miss her food almost as I miss her. She was an amazing cook. She was 100% Italian, but she did not only made great Italian food. She made the best fried chicken and matzo ball soup I ever had. Not really, Italian, right? Well, she learned the recipes from her neighbors that came from different backgrounds, cultures and religions and made them her own. If people around the world shared more food, maybe there would be less war. Who knows? All I know is that it was GOOD.

My grandmother was very territorial in her kitchen, but it was her domain, who could blame her? I was one of the few that was allowed to exist in her sacred space. I recall being a very small child and helping her shell lentils for her famous lentil soup.  In fact, many of my memories of her involve food and for that, I am eternally grateful. If I can someday be half of the cook she was then I will consider myself a success in the kitchen.

Who knows where this blog will go, but I look forward to sharing my love of food with you. Eat up!