I have to admit that I have never been much of a cook and I carried that almost like a badge of honor. My mother slaved in the kitchen for hours on end only to have us devour her creations in 5 seconds flat. It seemed like a thankless task to say the least. When the boys were born it was easy to feed them because it was breast milk then pureed fruits and vegetables, yogurt and such. As they got older I realized that we could not live on frozen pizza even if it was organic and had whole wheat crust. I had to face facts. I had to start cooking. And then I realized that I had never really learned to cook, so I had to start at the beginning. I am still early in the process, but I am a bit shocked to find that I like it. I find myself perusing recipes like they are a good novel. We joined a CSA (Johnson's Backyard Garden), which helped motivate me to expand my horizons before any of the vegetables went bad. I do get a little carried away sometimes. In order to for it to be interesting for me I make dishes like maple glazed tuna over a pear potato salad and arugula, edamame penne (from Cooking Light magazine). The kids just stare at it perplexed and look at me as if to say, " You have GOT to be kidding." Thanks to my friends Jason and Camille's suggestion I have instituted the "you complain you go to your room for 5 minutes rule" and the 'yucks' stopped. And to add even more craziness to it all I have starting taking pictures of my creations and pretty food in general. Oy! All of the images were taken with a Contax645 on fuji 800 with the exception of the second one (the pork tenderloin, grilled squash sandwich with tomatoes and chimichurri—my newest creation), which was shot with my Canon 5D MKII.
