I have been an avid home cook for about 15 years. I love to cook a very wide variety of foods and cuisines, from Italian one night to Asian the next, seafood to steak, healthy to not so much. I have many sources of inspiration - I love to watch the Food Network, have dozens of cookbooks, and get many different food-related emails every day.
I live with my fiance Corey in Warwick, RI. In cooking for him and going out together, he has opened up to many new foods and expanded his palate. He still hates cooked seafood, but he now eats sushi and likes tuna tartare. I suppose this is because raw seafood has no smell and has a clean taste. He appreciates that I love to cook with fresh herbs and quality ingredients, and that I like to cook food mostly from scratch. I also love to have friends over for dinner, and serve something they might never have had before, or maybe try to make the best version of a popular food like lasagna or chicken cordon bleu. I love it when I cook something for people that they've never had before, or had and didn't like, and they love it.
I also love to bake desserts and sweets - cookies, cakes, muffins, scones, pies, etc etc. This is actually how I started to enjoy time in the kitchen, but over time I grew to like all kinds of cooking. I remember that when my sister and I were young, my mom almost always gave us a home-cooked dinner, now matter how busy her day was. This is probably why the kitchen is my favorite room in the house :).
I love to try out new recipes, as well as make some of our old favorites, such as chicken parmesan or stuffed pork chops. Every day that I cook I think about what the grocery store might have for fresh seafood or produce, what is on sale, or what we might not have had in a while. Of course Corey won't eat seafood, but I try to make something just for myself once or twice a week. I prefer to cook with local and in-season ingredients. Sometimes Corey will tell me he's craving one of his favorite dishes, or I will just think of a new thing to make and hope he likes it, with varying levels of success ;).
For the past few months I have been posting my cooking on Facebook under the name Engaged Unemployed Home Cook. Many of my friends have shown interest in my cooking and comment that I make so many different things, so I have decided to start a blog to provide a better format for writing, organizing my cooking records and sharing recipes.
