Introduction

Warning: beware of grammar gremlins ahead

Since it seems to be the cool thing to do I have decided to start a food blog. Recently I've been getting nearly all of my recipes from food blogs. Of course I have a few favorites, but I am not a dedicated follower of any.

First, a warning: I am an engineering major, not a writer. I feel I am a good technical writer, which will come in handy when writing recipes. However, when it comes to spicing up these posts or even thinking of something to say, I am horrible. This is not my first attempt at a blog. I have had one or two in the past, but I ran out of things to say. One was a journal blog from back in high school. I quickly realized that no one cared what I was thinking. When I started college I made a music blog. I figured I would try my hand at reviewing music. I think I maybe wrote one review of a Man Man album, but no other reviews more than 100 words. I also had no readers. This was before that new-fangled blog-o-sphere was popular (which I still don't know what it is exactly... With a food blog, however, I can find readership from the wonderfully big foodbuzz.com. Maybe one or two of my posts will be worth reading!

Anyway, enough self-deprication. Let me tell you something about myself. I am Kevin. I hail from a western suburb of Chicago that some Chicago elitists don't even consider a Chicago suburb (I still say it is). I will be graduating with a BSME at the University of Illinois at Urbana this May 2009. Hopefully I will find a job in this wonderful economy. I started cooking once I moved into my first apartment in August 2007. I feel that I am a slightly better cook since then. I had only a casual interest in cooking then, I just wanted some sustience that was inexpensive and didn't require washing a lot of dishes. I refused to give in and eat ramen and hot dogs. While I enjoyed a good hot dog and sometimes even mac-a-weenie, I still tried to push myself to eat healthier. The toaster over became my friend, since we could just throw a piece of foil down in it and instantly cut out a dish and significantly reduce heating time. The fanciest meal I had cooked back then was simply salmon on a bed of wilted spinach with attempted roasted potatoes. I cooked this for my current girlfriend on Valentine's Day (our second date) and she has been craving my cooking ever since.

I dont know when exactly I acquired such an interest in cooking. I started watching Good Eats every night at 7 after work over the summer. I've always loved Good Eats, since Alton Brown actually goes into the Gastronomy of the dishes he creates. His recipies are solid too (stove-top mac and cheese = great). Also over the summer I began making tuna salad quite often. I set out to perfect it and get all the ratios right. I've still not perfected it. I cooked for my parents a couple times and they loved what I had made. I made risotto (from extra long grain rice, mind you) this past christmas break for the first time and my parents loved it. My dad does the cooking at our house, but he said that he has no idea where my talents came from, since he had never made anything harder than baked mac and cheese.

I think my desire to cook comes from me wanting to please people. I love cooking for others so they can critique me and enjoy what I've created. They seem to appreciate it (my girlfriend can't get enough) so I've set out to become the best cook I can. This semester my class load is light, so I have more time to cook and wash dishes. The semester is 2 weeks old and I've probably washed more dishes than I did my entire first semester in my apartment. I feel that the food I've cooked thus far has come out great for the most part. Now it is time to expand my culinary knowledge.