My mom loves to say to me, "I can't believe you eat that." When I was a kid, I was super picky. I liked what I liked and I refused to try anything else. I still remember the battle I had with my parents the first time we went for Chinese food. I was convinced that I would hate it. Luckily for me, I tried it, and I have loved Chinese food ever since.
The first time I remember really going out of my comfort zone on food was when I finished my first Co-op term as an engineer at Northwest Airlines. My boss took us all out for appetizers and drinks after work. One of the items my boss ordered was Buffalo Wings. He insisted I try one, despite my protests that I would not like it. Thank God he made me try it. I swear I could hear Angels singing when I had that first bite. I could not wait to have Buffalo Wings again.
Over the next decade, I started to try a few more things, mostly whatever Amanda cooked. Then my father-in-law got cancer. It was a bad cancer, and we lost him in 2010. When we'd visit, he and I would watch "Iron Chef America", among other things, on Food Network. They were cooking some weird stuff, but I found that I really wanted to try this delicious looking food, and I wanted to try cooking some of these dishes I was seeing on the Food Network cooking shows. So I started cooking a little bit, usually about one day a week. (As an aside, I still watch Food Network, Cooking Channel, and Food shows when they show up on any other channel)
Over the next year or two, more and more of the household cooking transitioned to me. I found that it was a nice way to destress after work, and Amanda really liked not having to cook. We have a great arrangement where I cook the meal and she does clean up.
During this time, I also ended up travelling more for work. What do you do on travel? Well, you work your tail off, and you eat good meals. I started trying more and more different things. Some of them I liked, and some of them not so much. But I found that food, both cooking and eating, was becoming a passion of mine, second only to my golf game. (Note: I considered writing a golf blog, but frankly, it would read more like dark humor than anything helpful. We golfers are a tortured lot, yet for some reason we keep coming back. But I digress).
So here we are, about 5 years later from my first real inkling of wanting to cook. I do 90% of the dinner meals in our house, and most of the grocery shopping. I also love to cook for other people. My favorite things to make are BBQ, American Comfort Food, Italian Food, Soups and Chilies, the occasional Mexican Dish, and every once in a while, something Asian. These also happen to be my favorite foods to eat. I've still got a lot to learn and a lot of new recipes to try, but I feel like I make some pretty good stuff. I get most of my recipes off the Internet, or by watching food shows on TV. I'm so passionate about good food that I've started this blog. I bet when my mom read this, she'll be just as shocked as she was when she learned that I tried Foi Gras on my last trip to France. I hope you enjoy reading as much as I enjoy writing about this stuff.
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