Introduction

The initial header graphic is borrowed from doroteos2.wordpress.com until I can figure out how to generate my own, but I wanted something to indicate to visitors right off that this blog would be about food, and this one was the best of those offered by Google Images from the query food and vegetables.

I suspect that the majority of posts will be about cooking: recipis, basic how-to's for beginners (I've been meeting a growing number of people who are throwing money away at restaurants not because they are enamored of restaurant cooking but because they can barely boil water or microwave a frozen dinner in their own kitchen), and tips from my own experiences with experimenting and trying to pull a meal together after work and on the weekends.

I've gotten a few cooking magazines over the years but mostly find that the methods they suggest double the complexity for the most subtle improvements in flavor and I've found few people who appreciate the difference, so most of my recipis will be simple and quick (at least in the preparing, if not the actual cooking time), if often insprired by the ingredients of more complex dishes. The idea here is to help the cook who is busy with other things besides cooking.

In addition, I'm a long time herb grower and mostly unsuccessful garden grower, but I've been learning and now I have a little green house to play with, so readers will also get a chance to hear about my attempts to grow my own flavors and foods, in case someone is interested.

Lastly (or firstly, depending how you look at it), I'm an amateur writer. I love to write. I don't tweet and I do write essays about food and herbs and cooking that are meant more to entertain than to be helpful, so occasionally post those as well, though i will categorize them separately for those who don't care to read for the entertainment.

I encourage comments on any and all of it: did you try what I suggested? Did it work for you or prove more bother than it was worth? Do you have a better idea? (I make no claims to encyclopedic knowledge, only what I happen to have picked up from others or learned for myself through trial and error). Are my instructions clear and useful to verbose and hard to follow? Do the essays entertain or confuse? I want to hear it all.

Cooks challenge: trade out an herb in your favorite recipi: perhaps trade fennel for dill, mint for marjoram, clove for pepper. Let us know what you think of the results.