To Remember Eating

I like to cook.  I plan excitedly for weeks in preparation of visiting a new city; I try to find restaurants and any unique foods that city has to offer. I love planning menus for my friends and family to enjoy, whether at my house or as a guest somewhere else. Mostly, I love to eat and think about eating and remembering what I ate (this last part though, I'm pretty lousy at).

about to eat have barbecue sauce all over my face. ribs, detroit.

But which recipe did I use? I know I added something, but what was it again? Which restaurant in Istanbul had the amazing fried eggs and bread with a million jams? I know I made meatballs for the Chinese New Years party, but what else?

So, this blog is to help me remember, to help me learn. And, to share with you as I go. It's like a food journal, just not private and not to track what I eat so I can eat less.

Things you can expect from this blog:

• Recipes: from cooks who make books, blogs, podcasts & originals from me
• Techniques I learn or want to try
• Menus: for hosting (impressing) friends & family  
• Inquiries: How can I chop onions better? Why do I cream butter in this recipe and melt butter in that recipe?
• Attempts to expand my palate: I will like sweet potatoes in 2015.
• Random challenges: can I really eat meatloaf four days in a row and not want to cut my tongue out from boredom?
• D.C. restaurant reviews
• Travel guides: portraits of cities through food ingested
• Pictures of my cat Oskar

oskar is a magical, furry wizard.

Things about me and my eating and cooking habits:

I can make some things without consulting a recipe (roasted brussels sprouts and perfectly poached eggs). But I got that way because I love eating those things all the days, sometimes together.

I  can put together a menu by imagining how flavors will play off each other and how they'll look together on a plate. I can throw together one helluvan appetizer (tapas?) party with a million dips and cheeses and flavors and textures and adorable candles on the table.

pre-guest arrival for an autumn brunch.

I can boss my husband and tell him to make some bread please. Or, I might say, "can you make cinnamon buns?! Cause I can't deal with flour, makes me nervous." I just don't want flour to make me nervous anymore.

I might read a recipe, change a few things, make a dinner and love it. But then, I don't remember which recipe I used, what I changed, or even, well sometimes the whole meal goes into a black hole never to be remembered again. And then I find myself thinking on a random Tuesday when I'm tasked with dinner: "what's something delicious and easy that I've made that I should make again?" I think of nothing.

genius. chicken fat potatoes. en france.

Other things, cakes or breads for example, I don't make all the time. And therefore haven't mastered. And that leaves me feeling uneasy when I know that the perfect thing to bring to someone's house for a New Year's Eve party is a gingerbread cake. But damn it! It came out a little flat, and I don't know why. Like, was the baking soda I used expired? Actually, what is baking soda?

I'm really good at finding new restaurants to try, in my city (D.C.) and the ones I visit. Sometimes, people are like: "where should I eat in D.C.?" And I have so many answers (and so many thoughts on how good they were)! Or, I'll research about an upcoming trip to a new city and find a million places! And people later will be like: "you went to New Orleans, where did you eat?" And I'll be like, "uuuuuuh. I forgot."

in provence. after visiting the market. we ate all of it.

MFK Fisher (my soul sister and biggest idol) said, “Probably one of the most private things in the world is an egg until it is broken." With her spirit in mind and through cooking and learning and eating, I'm going to break some eggs (and stir stuff and bake stuff and cut stuff and eat so much stuff) and share the stories and lessons that come out of it.