I am the world's worst at using recipes or writing down measurements. Those of you who already know me understand that I couldn't follow instructions if my life depended on it. Seems like I always have to make things my own. That said, I am going to finally attempt to accumulate a collection of all my past greats as well as document more of my recent concoctions while sharing lots of unrelated dialog. Most recipes will include pics, and any recipes I have actually followed will contain links to the site where I found them as well as any cooking notes.
My love for food started in my grandmother's kitchen. I can remember standing next to her on that old yellow vinyl-covered metal step-stool she kept close by. I watched her prepare three square meals a day for my grandfather, and being in Mississippi, that meant plenty of gardening as well. She spent most of her day in the kitchen during the summer months. We spent most of our time canning vegetable and jarring jellies. Every morning, we would go into the garden and weed and water the plants. Every late afternoon, we would look for veggies perfect for picking.
Her patience must have been outstanding. We rolled dough for fried pies, iced cakes, stirred batters and shelled peas...LOTS OF PEAS.
It just kept growing from there. As I got older, I would get up early on Saturday mornings, and instead of running to turn on the cartoons, I headed to the kitchen to make pancakes for the family. And since my mother was a party genius, I was always assisting her with decorating and prepping for her next shower or dinner. Home Economics was a breeze for me in junior high, and I think I owned more cook books than text books by college.
I remember watching my first episode of Emeril Live while visiting friends in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, the small college town Brett Favre made famous. It was their ritual every Friday night to bust open a case of Milwaukee's Best (The Beast in college terminology) and turn the TV to the craziest chef ever seen. Keep in mind that we were a close neighbor to New Orleans, so all that crazy Cajun food was every-day fare for us! Anyway, I LOVED the show and quickly became addicted to Food Network.
While my career has been focused on marketing, advertising and publishing, I still managed to take several classes in culinary education. I even owned a successful coffee shop for several years that is now celebrating its 15th anniversary in business. While owning the shop, I made thousands of pastries and broadened my experience in catering for larger numbers.
Things just kept going from there. I had phases I would go through. There was the cookie dough phase, yeast breads, sweet breads. Then I would cross over to fish, shrimp and crab. Then back to king cakes. I burned through mixer after mixer until my family finally pitched in and bought me a KitchenAid Pro one year for Christmas. It should be about 12 years old now and still going strong.
My phases followed food fads, so I am pretty comfortable cooking anything popular in the last 10 years! I remember especially my risotto and pizza phases. I must have gained 20 lbs. More recent phases include eggs on everything, mac and cheese, marinara, stir-fry and chocolate chip cookies. The cookies have officially been perfected now. I will share the recipe as soon as I make them again to take pics!
In the meantime, I got married, had a kid and quit the day job. Now I am doing what I love, cooking. While I have a cake business, it is only a small window into my true love of all foods. Hopefully you will find as much amusement and love out of these dishes and treats as I have. Have a request? Chances are I can find it and make it!
Happy marinating!
Shelly
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