the all new, all purpose me.

As I have pointed out numerous times to you, I’m sure, I’m an only child. It wasn’t until recently, when Tony and I moved into our own home, that I’d really been out by myself with no one to lean on.

I’m not saying I’m not a domestic person, because I have certainly proven to myself in the past couple of months that I’m totally capable of handling my affairs with ease and efficiency. I knew I always had the knowledge and the verve to accomplish such things; the problem was, I never had an environment in which to use them. Well, now I do.

One thing that I have yet to fully exercise is my culinary skills (or lack thereof). Please understand that until about oh, five years ago?, I was an extraordinarily picky eater. I brought peanut butter sandwiches to lunch with me every day from eight grade until graduation. I used to scrape the cheese off my pizza and damned if I knew anything about fruits and veggies – what are those, anyway?

I still have my misgivings (tomatoes, onions, certain types of meat), but all in all I’ve gotten over my food phobias and have become a well-rounded eater. (Both literally and figuratively…although it could be all the Dominos, and not my expansive diet, that’s caused a bit of weight gain.) So, now that I have my own kitchen to mess around in, I’ve decided to delve into the art of cooking.

I come from a family of great cooks, namely my grandmother. She had a garden, made pasta from scratch, and was relied upon for the best meals during holidays. She made a spaghetti sauce that will never match any other. Unfortunately, by the time I realized I wanted to learn how to cook and make such a sauce, she was gone. I’ve just now inherited a little piece of her that should help me along the way.





The 1997 edition of The Joy of Cooking. Five-ish pounds of not only recipes, but the basics of food and appliances and cooking methods. This book was always at her side and now, with it in my hands, I see the tattered and bookmarked pages – she used this thing a lot. So, now I’m going to methodically go through it and do my best to nurture my (hopefully) innate Italian/Polish cooking skills and make some damn good meals.

Yes, I am going to go Julie & Julia on you for a bit here. Sorry. But when I screw up it’ll be funny, right? And if I don’t, simply tasty – and you’ll wish you were here to try it.