Man in the Woods

      So my boyfriend is going camping with his guy friends this weekend. I baked some stuff for him to take with him. Mostly because I'm the best girlfriend ever, but also maybe just one tiny bit because I wanted to post something on my blog. Either way, result= tasty treats, selfishly motivated or not.
      The first thing I made was granola. Yeah, I know. Hippy food extrodinaire. I got the recipe from "Bon Appetit" Magazine. Bon Appetit is what you might call a "foodie" mag, if you can use that term without feeling like a total effin tool. But you know what I mean.... it goes a step further into food culture than most food magazines. It features recipes for things you're seriously never going make like "Tamarind-glazed Black Cod with Haberno Orange Salsa", and articles that look into deeper issues surrounding food-like how race plays a role in agricultural reform. I was surprised to find this simple recipe for granola in the June 2010 issue, but I'm seriously glad I tried it. One of the easiest things I've made in a long time and totally addictive.

      I also made a batch of my ultimate number one, fall back, all occasion, never fail chocolate chip cookies. The recipe comes from the book "Vegan with a Vengeance" by Isa Chandra Moskowitz. As I mentioned in my first entry, I was veg for a long time. In the past year I've started eating meat, but a few of my old favourite recipes stuck. These cookies always come out amazing....as one friend put it "they taste like REAL cookies." This particular batch isn't actually vegan, since I added M&Ms(which have milk in them), but they contain no eggs or dairy other than that. I've made them for friends, classmates and family including my aunts and Grandma-and you KNOW that's serious business. Everyone really likes them and they always make me seem much more charming than I really am. Sweet cooking goes a long way towards masking a bitter personality.

Introduction: Why I am gracing the internet with yet another blog

      I love cooking.  It's one of my few useful skills and I do it as often as I can. Baking calms me down when I'm freaking out. Contributing homemade yums to various events makes me feel less socially awkward. If you're a friend or relative of mine, chances are I've baked you cookies or made you dinner (and if I haven't....take a hint buddy).
      A few months ago I started thinking that maybe I'd like to make something of this hobby. Baking cookies and selling them seemed like a pretty rad idea. Right away I thought of a local craft market that hosts artists, crafters, and a few food vendors. I got in touch with the organizers of the market, proposing a booth where I could sell baked goods. They got back to me almost right away and seemed to be down with the idea-especially that I told them I could bake delicious treats for various dietary needs like gluten intolerance and veganism. I was stoked-it seemed like I could actually be selling my food to the general public.
      Then they told me that I had to get my kitchen approved by the local health department in order to sell any edibles. The dream was friggin over. The health dudes gave me a huge checklist of requirements to get the stamp of approval: triple sink, exhaust hood yadda yadda yadda. At the time I lived in a one bedroom apartment; I barely had six square feet of counter space, let alone THREE sinks. FML, as they say. All I wanted to do was sell a few cookies. Mega bummer.
      Even though that particular venture didn't work out, I couldn't let go of the feeling that I REALLY wanted to do something more with food than just make it and eat it in the privacy of my own home. Especially since my 'relationship' with food has changed a lot in the last year. The biggest change being that after 8 years meat-free, I broke veg. That's definitely a post for another day. I also moved in with my guy and starting cooking a lot more proper meals(as opposed to living on english muffins and condiments when I lived alone). And finally, I've started to focus on eating "clean"-more on that later too. 
      So here we are in my blog. I wish the term "blog" didn't sound so lame, but I'll do my best to make mine way awesome. I just want to put up pictures of tasty food and people eating tasty food. And maybe talk about my thoughts on all things food related.
      And yes. I realize that blogs may have had their moment. But as my computer genius bro would tell you I'm a total friggin luddite. Seriously, I just learned how to download podcasts about 3 weeks ago, and I got left in the dust on downloading music when Kazaa got shut down. So me starting a blog in mid 2010 is just about right on time.

Alright, introduction done. Next post, I'm gonna show you whats I gots. In the kitchen.