The Best Place to Start...

Good afternoon food lovers!

I have been talking about getting this blog/vlog/expression of my most passionate self for almost a year. After some of my trademark procrastination, I'm biting the bullet and starting here...at the beginning.

Welcome to The Happy Food Dance. A child that was born in my heart and moved quickly to my brain and slightly less quicly to my fingers. As a person who has been cooking almost my entire life, I don't think I ever appreciated that there were people in the world who could not navigate around a kitchen. This was most upsetting to me when a former co-worker asked me how to boil potatoes and when even another asked me what it meant to preheat an oven. In this outlet I hope to help you, the novice, become more comfortable with a whisk and sauce pan in your hands. And, as I've just started culinary school, maybe share some tips with a few of you more seasoned cooks. I'll even share some of my favorite recipes and will have some demos up as soon as I can.

Culinary school is more than I could have ever imagined. I have never, in my short 29 years, felt that I was in the right place at the right time. After almost 12 weeks of school, my stomach still turns flips every time I walk in the building. I find myself thinking 'I can't believe I'm really here, I'm really doing this' on an almost daily basis. Chasing a dream has been, and is, the most fullfilling thing I have ever done. It is like jumping off of a cliff...spreading my arms wide for a swan dive into absolute bliss. The first time I made my own bechamel I thought I would cry. Making hollandaise for my best friend's birthday that was better than any that we have had in any restaurant ever was the most fun I've had in a long time.

I've known that I was a talented cook for a long time. In saying that, I didn't know I could cook like this. I didn't know how happy I would be when I got my first callus from cutting so much. Who knew I would get a work out from making sauces from scratch?

After six years (or a lifetime, but who is counting) of doing something that I had no passion for, just taking this first step towards my future has made the difference between night and day. I look forward to walking myself through the next 20 months and I hope you join me.

On that note, time to put on my chef coat for the night.

"Happy and successful cooking doesn't only rely on know-how; it comes from the heart, makes great demands on the palate and needs enthusiasm and a deep love of food to bring it to life." --Georges Blanc, Ma Cuisine des Saisons