Me & Food

So, what is my relationship with food?  Well, there hasn’t been much of one until the last couple of years.  The only culinary training I’ve had was in grade 8 home economics, which I did quite well in I might add.  Growing up, I didn’t hang out in the kitchen baking cookies or making mac and cheese with my mom.  She would tell you that I always had my nose stuck in a book, studying to become a mad scientist (hence the name of the blog).  Lets just say learning how to cook wasn’t high on my to-do-list.  I regret not taking the time to learn from her.  She makes the best Chinese and Vietnamese food and ironically is a chef at a hotel restaurant!  After university, I moved out on my own and you would think my cooking skills improved.  But working long hours in the lab and living alone resulted in a lot of take-out, salads and large pots of pasta that lasted for days.  Food was just a way to get nutrients and energy.  I’d always said that if I could get all my nutrients from pills and not have to eat, I would do it.  On top of that, I found cooking to be a time-consuming chore that requires too much preparation and cleaning!  On the few occasions that I was inspired and motivated to cook (usually when I got tired of eating the same thing over and over again) I tried recipes from cookbooks that promised simple, healthy and delicious meals in less than 30 minutes!  Needless to say, a lot of these attempts led to bland, unappetizing meals and the result of these cookbooks collecting dust on my bookshelf.  Things did not improve much after I got married.  I am embarrassed to say that my husband was (is?) a better cook with a more developed palate.  I was more than happy to let him do most of the cooking.  But as his schedule became more hectic and mine slowed down, I began the search for easy and tasty recipes to try.  After some trial and error, I started to have an appreciation for food and learned that delicious dishes don’t have to consist of a million ingredients or take hours to prep.  You don’t even have to have fancy kitchen gadgets.  Heck, I just purchased my first set of mixing bowls last week and I don’t even have an electric hand mixer.  I’ve found the best part of cooking is seeing others (mainly my husband) enjoy it.  You will find here a collection of the my food trials which I hope will inspire you to dust off the apron (if you have one, but not required) and get into the kitchen!

Thanks for visiting!

Yvonne