Why start this blog?

After much internal debate, I have decided to enter the world of blogging. This seems the easiest way to keep track of all my progress without constantly having to email myself my updates from various computers.

So here is a little about me...I am in my late twenties, recently married and work full time as a research technician. I used to bake fairly often, but life somehow got in the way. I like to share the vast majority of the items I make with the people I work with, but there was someone at my last job that was allergic to eggs, so I didn't bake quite as much as I once did. Then I started getting into triathlons and the training took up much of my free time. Along came my future husband and the whole 'free time' thing seemed to disappear even more. Moving from an hour and a half away, starting and new job, buying a house and wedding planning took over my life.

One of the pluses from all the wedding planning was a renewed interest in baking and cooking. I remembered just how much I enjoyed being in the kitchen creating. For my shower, many friends and family members gave me recipes, including some from my grand mother and an aunt that had passed away. This have become very special to me. I loved the idea of having the culinary and pastry influences from various people so much that I gathered most of the recipes and put them into a bound book. That book is getting much use and has been a great springboard into my return to the kitchen.

So I spend time each week planning what I want to create over the weekend. It is not limited to sweets by any means. I am trying to teach myself as much as I possibly can since culinary school isn't an option at this point in my life. It is more expensive than we can handle and would be several hours each day. To address that issue, I have turned to those gathered recipes, the internet and books as my teachers. I am learning more and more all the time and it is only fueling my desire to understand the concepts and 'why's behind many of the things we do in the kitchen. The more I grasp the basics, the more I will be able to manipulate those basics into creating new and exciting recipes that become my own.

I have been creating many different dishes over the last month or two, so it will take me a little while to catch up on here. I just realized that I need a way to keep track of my various attempts at the culinary and pastry arts so that I don't forget the successes (and failures), the ways I think I could improve the next time, and the valuable lessons I learn along the way. You are more than welcome to take this journey with me and I hope we all learn just a little more than we did yesterday.