Tuesday, February 24, 2015

Food and Me

Hello Readers,

This is my first post.  Where to begin?  Hmmm......  Well this is a cooking blog so it will be mostly focused on food and recipes.  The vibe will be a mix of casual, sophisticated, and fun.  It will mainly be about how I approach food, recipes, flavors, cuisines, and also some about food culture.

I have been a fan of cooking since I was in middle school.  I remember the first time I saw scrambled eggs slowly firming up, and was completely amazed.  How did it do that?  Its that easy??  How else can eggs be cooked?  Boom!  The love affair began.  I am still the same way today.  I am amazed by new foods.  I love to try new recipes, especially with ingredients that I am novice with, and tweak and play with the recipe until I feel satisfied with the way the dish came out.  Using food this way as a creative outlet is probably numero uno for why I love cooking, but there are a few other reasons that really stand out to me.
  • Cooking connects me to nature and life.  Living in Oregon (whoop, whoop) I am lucky enough to have a wide variety of produce that I can grow or buy. I love to work with things grown from the earth.  Cooking provides me with a way to bring nature into the home.
  • Cooking connects me to history, geography, and culture.  History and geography are some of the rare passions of mine that exceed food.  I have always immersed myself in the social sciences and today I am a high school history teacher.  In line with the social sciences I have always been intrigued and in wonder of other cultures and people.  I believe food and cuisine is a great way to get at the heart of a culture and its history.  Cuisine explains a civilization's connection to the land they live in, other cultures they have come in contact with, and the social values of a culture.  Each culture is unique and different, but at the same time it is connected to the other cultures around it.  Cuisine and food exemplifies this to a tee.
  • Food is nourishing.  Food gives us energy and life.  It brings enjoyment and makes us feel good.  There is a reason humans love to meet over a meal.  It is fun!  The energy that food gives us, affects all other aspects of our life.
  • Cooking is pleasing to the senses.  All five of our senses are stimulated when cooking.  From hearing bacon crackling on the stove to seeing a vibrantly colored salad, the senses are pleased when we cook.  To me this is extremely satisfying.  My body feels immersed in what I am doing as I cook.  I feel engaged and alive when all of the senses are being stimulated.

Well that got a little more detailed than I had planned.....  Oh well.  Guess you know me a little bit better now!  With this blog I will document my attempts to cook recipes and then the changes and tweaks I make to a dish.  I will discuss different flavors, tastes, and textures as I analyze a dish.  I will be documenting both successes and failures (because who is perfect?).  If there are any dishes that you want me to try, just add it to the comments!  I hope you all enjoy!  Cheers!

Josh




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