This Is What Happens When I Try At Life

As is usually the case, the new year has filled me with all sorts of ideas.

Or rather, the impending new year filled me with all sorts of ideas last month.

Either way, stuff's happening.  Good stuff.

This weekend, Rob and I are going to move me over to my new Wordpress site! Yippee! (I say that now - who knows how it will actually turn out or how close either of us will come to murder or computer carnage once it's all said and done.)  I'm so excited about it, and I love him for all the time and effort he's put into this design.  So the new domain will *hopefully* go live next week after tweakage.  I can't wait!


After the new site is a go and all is working well, I'll be kicking off a new series.  The idea for this new series came into being as a result of my brainstorming over how I could try to add something to the blogsphere.  After all, it's important to offer something to readers besides tales of my social ineptness and how much I like to cook and eat yummy things. 

Then later that afternoon I happened to overhear a conversation in my office regarding one coworker's inability (unwillingness?) to cook.  She claimed that she relied a lot on takeout and frozen entrees since she had never taken the time to learn to cook.

And it hit me.  How many people really don't know how to cook? And I don't mean fancy stuff - I mean the basics.  Roasting a chicken.  Cooking fluffy rice.  And then on to slightly more challenging/less practiced stuff like baking homemade bread (which is a totally worthwhile endeavor, trust me if you haven't tried it yourself).  I think it's easy to take for granted this knowledge if, like me, you find yourself hungry to learn everything you can.  I mean, I was watching my mom make dinner every night for years - I would just stand there and watch her and she would ask me why (like in a "Why are you staring at me" sort of way.  Just kidding.  Maybe).  Other kids were probably spending their time doing kid things.  I was buying my mom a spice rack for Christmas which I used more than she did.

So starting this month (date still TBD based upon the process of launching the new site), I'll be offering a weekly series called Cooking Basics.  In this series you'll see simple, basic techniques and recipes which can help any home cook step up their game a little bit.  For instance, I'll explain a basic technique (for instance, a roux), then take it a step further if possible (bechamel sauce), then use it in a dish (like lasagna).  And of course I would love as much feedback as possible, not to mention ideas for future entries.

I'll be giving more information on this as the launch grows closer.  I'm really excited about it and I hope you will be as well!


I'm really thrilled that Rob had the great idea for me to buy an inexpensive, portable mini studio to take my pictures with - I had thought about building a light box but of course he's much more cut-to-the-chase than I am.  That should be coming in tomorrow so I'll soon be taking much prettier shots!


Also, I have a new gig in the works! I'm still waiting for the odds and ends to be ironed out, but once they are I'll be starting a paid writing job at a really cool website.  Stay tuned for more details on that!


Oh, and in case you were wondering: The cooking will continue.  I know I haven't posted any new recipes on here in a while, mainly because we've been existing solely on holiday leftovers and pasta for the past couple of weeks (true story).  This weekend, though, I'll be making my faaaaavorite Indian dish of all time (incidentally, one of only two or three Indian dishes I've ever eaten).  So get your salivary glands ready for that!


How about YOU? Any big changes happening as a result of the new year?