I am the first to admit it: I am a food snob. So much so that going out to eat is done very infrequently and often times I am left unsatisfied and wondering why I just spent money on something I probably could have done better.
So goes the evolution of my cooking experience. I know my cooking enthusiasm started at a young age with French Toast. It evolved from there to chocolate chip cookies. When cookies were needed or desired at home my mother would get me to make them stating they were the best she'd ever had. (Personally, I think she was pulling my leg so she would not have to make them.) I wished then to just be able to make one big cookie and who knew that I was on to what Tollhouse eventually called the pan cookie. Man I should have followed through.
In high school I remember some sort of bake sale or something where I made key lime pie and homemade whipped cream. I also made egg rolls and actually still use that recipe today. I remember cooking the egg rolls in an electric skillet. I wonder who else remembers that?
When I worked at Lord & Taylor's in Chicago, I used to make (and got paid) for a woman Italian Beef with green peppers and onions and loaded with yummy broth and fennel seeds. I made this last week and it was oh so good.
Fast, fast, forward because it could go on and on...It seems that food has always been a major part of my life and now more than ever I enjoy, with James' help, the effort and tasks of making lots of homemade meals and food items. For example, we make our own bread, bagels, cheese, yoghurt, jams, pickles, salsa (from veggies from the garden), pasta, sauce, pizza dough, to name a few.
When I travel I try desperately to find mom and pop places (not so easy in the US) and experience new flavors and fairly good food. I have tried to keep my travel food pictures with those pages and our home versions here. Mangia bene, vivi felice...
Greek Night at the Barrow's and here's what the paper wrote
Making tortillas with friends