Preheating the Oven

Preheating the Oven - The 1st post.

Well, I have been reading blogs for many years now and find part of my daily ritual is to check all my RSS feeds to see what my favorite bloggers were up to that day and I find myself now drawn to start my own blog. So I figured I would write about something I love doing in this blog and that is.. well.. cooking. From the time I was very young, I loved cooking. I think my first solo attempt was eggs on the stove at the ripe age of four (If I remember my mom's story right). I have had many hobbies in my life but those hobbies seem to come and go. What has stuck with me all my life is cooking and I think one reason is because there can be so much depth in cooking. It can be a meal or it can be a way to connect with your past. The tastes, the smells you remember and how you felt in those times. For me it is times where I can remember my grandmother and great grandmother in the kitchen cooking during a holiday, times when I remember looking into the kitchen while practicing piano to see my mother cooking in the kitchen with my father sitting watching Wheel of Fortune or Jeopardy. But besides being able to connect to your own past, you can learn something from someones cooking. Recently Shannon cooked her mom's chicken francaise and it was delicious but there was something special about her cooking that meal for me. Thomas Wolfe has said 'There is no spectacle on earth more appealing than that of a beautiful woman in the act of cooking dinner for someone she loves' and while it was amazing watching her cook that meal and then sitting down together to eat it there was so much more to it than the flavor. Food can be just about flavor but when it is cooked with love, with a purpose, it can tell a story, warm your heart and even give you a glimpse into the past.

Aside from heritage and comfort, I enjoy cooking because of the pleasure I get in cooking something that people enjoy and the unity it brings to a group. I think the bigger the kitchen the better when it comes to a house. You can entertain and watch movies in a family room, play games in the game room but there is something magical about a party centered around a kitchen. As the Irish saying goes, "Laughter is brightest in the place where food is".

So what will I write about in this blog? Food. Plain and simple. Hopefully I will be able to elicit responses from you all, get your ideas and have you share your love of cooking as well.

Kyle