Here Goes Nothing...

Here I am, a 26 year old woman, starting something she is praying she will have the actual dedication to finish. Don't be mistaken, this is NOT a "Julie and Julia" thing. I know damn well it would take a force of God to get me though an entire french cooking book when I really have had no training what so ever. Not that I couldn't, mind you, I just am too lazy to even try. Also, I have no desire at the moment in French Cuisine. Italian pasta on the other hand......well, let's just put it this way, I could eat nothing but Pasta and Italian dishes for the rest of my life and never, I mean NEVER tire of them.

Pasta is like nothing else. I'm just saying. So like I was saying here I am, a 26 year old woman. I, like so many, have learned to cook not from my mother or father, or through classes and trial and error but the American way....television. I have two words that can completely sum up the largest sore of technique and knowledge.....FOOD NETWORK. I don't mean to say I haven't learned a great deal from my mother and father [who are both amazing cooks and have made a point to have family dinners since I can remember] but after college, when all I was doing was working in a restaurant and coffee house, the greatest pleasure of my days off were to watch the Food Network all...day....long. Sad, maybe. Obsessive, absolutely. But it became something I really looked forward to.

Yes, it was an escape from the real world and the bullshit that comes along with having two costumer service/food industry jobs, but without me even realizing it, it became more than just an escape. I found myself learning and getting excited about cooking. Granted I hadn't started to attempt to actually cook anything that I was watching and learning about, but it kick started a passion for food.

There is so much about the Food Network that is absolutely amazing. I love that I, a normal person, can sit in my own home and learn how to make the most impressive meal simply by watching the television and doing what the professionals do.....and then take all the credit for it. Well, wouldn't you? But here's the thing....learning from a cookbook or from your parents or from the television, it's all the same. The same product [that being a beautiful herb lamb roast or macaroni and cheese] can be learned and produced no matter where you learned it.

So HERE GOES NOTHING....

Pasta and Italian dishes are what I like to eat most. I happen to have received Giada De Laurentiis' "Everyday Pasta" Cookbook for Christmas nearly three years ago and still hasn't even attempted to cook even one recipe from it. Well my friends, the days of throwing whatever you have in your fridge into a pan and calling it dinner is so over. Follow me through an Italian Feast.....

87 recipies
13 meal combinations
endless possibilities