I love to cook. I learned to cook from my mother, who is one of the best cooks I know. I am left-brained – a self-declared science nerd who has never been artistic or otherwise “creative”… except for cooking, which in recent years has become my creative outlet. My husband says I have no fear in the kitchen, which is mostly true. I do have some fear, I just always keep in mind when cooking something new that the worst thing that could happen is the food will be terrible and we’ll order pizza instead. (Not so awful after all, right?) Keeping the right perspective is the true key to having Culinary Confidence.
I like to cook really good food that a wide range of people will enjoy (including my picky husband), and that doesn’t require 53 ingredients. Every now and then I’ll get the urge to make something like Julia Child’s boeuf bourguignon, but that’s really not the norm for me. I love the quote by Julia Child in the heading of this website, and I love Ina Garten’s philosophy that you really just need about six good recipes that you can adjust and tailor for different settings. My favorite recipes are easy and accessible. I love healthy, flavorful food that’s as “natural” as I can reasonably get it. I often use recipes from my favorite chefs such as Ina Garten and Giada DeLaurentiis, and edit them to my liking – either to adjust the flavors, lower the cost of purchasing all the ingredients, or blend it with another recipe that I just like better.
I recently quit my job working in health policy in Washington DC, to stay home with my son who is almost 10 months old as I sit writing this. I am thrilled to be home with him, and have finally figured out parenthood enough to have a little extra time to devote to cooking and blogging. On this site, I’ll provide my favorite, easy to make, crowd-pleasing recipes and tips for making time in the kitchen easier and more fun.
As you’ll see, I’m a very mediocre photographer – a problem made worse by the fact that I rarely have time to photograph my food in the daylight. So please excuse the photographs… I’m workin’ on it.
Enjoy!!