Yes, another food blog!

Why, when there are hundreds of food blogs already out there, am I starting yet another one? I just love recipes. I love to read the ingredients and try to picture the texture. I love to be inspired by the pictures I see of others' creations and then to decide if that's something I want to try.

A few years ago, I thought of cooking as an odious chore. We ate fast food all the time, and when I did muster up the courage to actually cook something, more often than not it was Hamburger Helper. I put in the absolute minimal amount of effort because it felt like almost every time I tried my hand at a recipe I'd found, it took forever to make and didn't turn out well enough to justify the time spent. Cooking shows were no help either, because most of the chefs were *very serious!* about their food. It seemed like they were always cooking these elaborate dishes, often with ingredients I'd never even heard of, and the finished prodect rarely seemed appealing. I just couldn't picture myself making that recipe, let alone eating it.

Then along came Rachael Ray. (Disclaimer: If you don't like Rachael Ray's food, you probably needn't read further.) I saw one of her first episodes and found myself riveted. She was using stuff I had right there in my cupboard and she was having a ball making it! Smacking the garlic with her knife, throwing in a little of this-or-that without even measuring, and best of all, getting the whole thing finished before my eyes in half an hour. After watching just a few episodes I began to think that not only could I do that, I really wanted to!

Ever since then, I have had a much healthier attitude about cooking. I still have my hits-and-misses (I'm pretty sure I have a major miss baking in the oven as I type this), but I enjoy it. I hope you'll find something useful here and that I can inspire some cooking and baking adventures in you!