A Change of Pace

So I had this other blog, and it was fun to post in, but it had no focus. And I found that as time went on, it became harder to post. I didn't know what the posts should be about. I had originally wanted it to be some sort of research blog where I could answer questions, etc. But then I found that I don't come up with nearly as many interesting questions as I thought I did. Then it just sort of became all about me ... a general spot where my little blog community of friends could come to read about me and I would go to their blogs to read about them. Except that ... posting has become daunting. Given no particular subject, I often don't know what to write. I'm not good at baring my soul like Milla is, or coming up with provocative topics--nor do I have a cute baby, like Jeremy.

But there's one thing that is a part of my life every day, and that is food. Now that I am an attorney and spend most of my day reading, researching and writing and very concentratedly using my brain, I have found that the one thing that gives me pleasure when I am away from work is the one thing that is completely unlike what I do all day. Food. Cooking, learning about or merely appreciating fine food and hospitality has suddenly become my one great pleasure. It's something I can write about, so I think I am going to join the prolific world of food blogs. I also noticed that the most hits on my blog from people who were not regular readers came from people searching for Cobras and Matadores and people searching for achiote molido, so clearly despite the abundance of food blogs, there are still people who need more. I hope to share with you, my friends, some info about the hows and whys of cooking different foods, some recipes, some restaurant reviews, and some serious food porn.

It's called gastronomy 101 because that's what this is for me. I haven't cooked a lot in my life. About the only thing I know how to make without a recipe is omelets, which I learned in my one and only cooking class, "Nutrition," in high school. I still feel resentful about that. I got a B on my omelet. The grading was based purely on looks and mine had some brown spots. But that's how *I* like it! Also, when we actually ate them, everyone else's at my table was runny and mine was perfect. So, whatever, teacher whose name I don't even remember.

I did quite a lot of fine dining in high school. My parents took us out a little bit to nice restaurants, but mostly it was when my friend G--'s dad would pay off the credit card every month, and he was free to start spending again, we would go out on "dates" to all the nicest restaurants in town and try all the crazy things that rich people ate, like caviar and escargot. It was my start as a budding foodie, and unfortunately the first days of college killed that instinct. I was dirt poor, working the night shift and stuck in L.A. without a car. I forgot teh joy of fine dining and lived on pizza and salad. Then I graduated and got engaged to D--, a person who while much enamored of food, was more into drive through cuisine and things made with lots of frying and/or butter. And, beer. Several years/pounds later, I find myself back in L.A. and now with a new husband, J-- who has thankfully reintroduced me to the dining out experience, which, along with my quest to try to shed some of those old relationship pounds, has led me on a round about path to discover that cooking is also seriously fun itself. So, much like Julia Child determined as an adult to master the art of French cooking, so am I determined as a new adult to master the art of gastronomy, French and otherwise, both cooking and eating.

Watch for me this week to start out strong by posting about fish. Tilapia, to be exact. What can you do with this exotic little whitefish? A lot, it turns out.