a la mode

Cooking. Food was the first thing I loved that loved me back.

This was the first aspect of creativity that I developed, and the first area of my life where I thought, "Hey! Maybe I am a little artsy!"

To me, food is 70% presentation. If it looks beautiful, I whole-heartedly believe it will taste beautiful. For instance, I hate fish. GROSS. YUCK. ICKY. Recently, however, I had a dish with fish that was wonderfully prepared... and I was able to eat a few bites.

Ok, ok, the scientist in me says that it was probably a type of fish I had never had before, and that's why I like it. But I like to think it was its lovely presentation.

I love cooking so much, in fact, that I almost became a chef.

tip: for a truly interesting garnish, cut a green onion about 3" from the root (where the hot part is). Then, cut the onion into little thin slices, but don't cut it all the way! You want the little slices to sort of flower out from the bottom. Next, put them in ice cold water for about 90 minutes and TADA! you have a cool garnish.

In recent years, cooking has become a fantastically popular hobby. I think this is awesome. Dinner parties are so much more entertaining now. Do you have a dish that is a joy to cook, serve, eat, etc? Look up Paula Dean's Baked Spaghetti. Your mind will be blown. trust me.

"Nothing would be more tiresome than eating and drinking if God had not made them a pleasure as well as a necessity."
Voltaire

"Non-cooks think it's silly to invest two hours' work in two minutes' enjoyment; but if cooking is evanescent, so is the ballet."
Julia Child