My Joy of Cooking

I've been wondering what would be my first post as I did not want to write a basic intro, then miraculously a childhood friend asked me how I became passionate about food... great, this will be it.

Part of it is very simple actually. I love to eat and I love food.

I first discovered my love of cooking when I moved out of my parent's house. Before that, I avoided the stove as much as possible. But when I was on my own, there was no one there but me. If I wanted to eat, I had to learn.

Very simple things at first, then everything changed when I bought my first cookbook. There was one recipe in there that caught my eye. It was a garlic and olive oil spaghetti. Let's just say that the picture looked really good... but... I learned that it never comes out exactly like that! The garlic was burned, the olive oil was of poor quality and I forgot the pasta in the water. But somehow looking at my barely eatable plate, I got images of another dish, and the next day I tried it. Converted rice, sautéed shrimp and escargot in garlic butter (maybe it's the French side of me, but I love escargot). Add the shrimp and escargot to the cooked rice and drizzle with melted garlic butter.

I was looking at my plate and I was so proud of myself. Wow, I did that on my own, what else can I do? The next day I was back at the bookstore buying more cookbooks, now I have a bookshelf full of them.

It started more out of curiosity, but as the years went by, it was more because of my health issues and me being healthy than anything else. When I was a teenager, I suffered from an eating disorder and it completely destroyed my insides. Then it went downhill from there. My nut and treenut allergies started first, then I was unable to digest red meat, then fish became problematic as well as poultry and pork but not as bad, and now wheat.

All of this makes me be a little more creative in the kitchen. I constantly have to ask myself, "What can I replace this with?" everytime I want to try a new recipe. But it's OK. I've learned that food equals pleasure, and there is nothing better than being surrounded by loved-ones enjoying a great meal together.