Getting Started

I’ve wanted to jump on the blog bandwagon for quite some time now. I enjoy reading about my friends’ kids, families, vacations, and other random happenings in their lives, but never have been very comfortable putting my own life out there for everyone else to see. It’s very easy for me to post pictures on MySpace and Facebook which tell a pretty good story, but not so easy for me to put my life and feelings into words for others to read. I thought of doing a wedding blog, but decided against it. While I have been documenting wedding details, some of it hasn’t been pretty. I may take those moments, thoughts, and feelings to the grave! All of a sudden after my kitchen/dining room wedding shower, it hit me I should blog about cooking!

The kitchen/dining room wedding shower was a big hit! Since I have been out of college for nearly five years and have owned my own home for nearly two, I already have all of the “needs” for a home. I looked at my wedding registries as the “wants” to tie everything together; and since the registries contained mostly cooking items and dishes, it made sense for the theme of this particular shower to be kitchen/dining room. Included with the mailed invitations was a recipe card for guests to write us a recipe. I didn’t expect everyone to do it, but out of the 21 people that came, 12 gave us a recipe. Two who couldn’t be there even sent their recipes with gifts. I was thrilled! I also was in for a huge surprise. For whatever reason, cookbooks never crossed my mind as potential gifts for this shower. I have no idea why, since it fit perfectly with the theme. I was shocked and excited to receive twelve cookbooks! Robin gave me the Bells Best set I-IV, and Mrs. Carolyn gave me a Bells Best III. Coach Hickman gave me the Betty Crocker Bridal Edition cookbook, and Arlene gave me “Confessions of a Kitchen Diva”. Mrs. Judy gave me “Who’s Cooking in Winston County”, a collection of recipes from my hometown offered by the Louisville Main Street Association. Hailey gave me a copy of what I like to refer to as the “Darlene Bane Cookbook”, which I was very excited about. Mrs. Darlene compiled a book some years ago of her favorite family recipes and those of her friends. I know Hailey loves her copy, so I was thrilled she got me one! The highlight of the cookbook gifts fittingly came from Mammaw. Mammaw moved to the nursing home a few days before the shower, and didn’t get to come. She wrapped up three of her favorite and most used cookbooks and a folder full of random loose recipes. It was the most special gift, and of course brought me to tears!

After the shower I told Mom I should cook all the recipes in all the books and blog about it. I tossed the idea around for a couple of weeks, and finally decided to make a go of it. If you noticed the title and paid attention to the cookbooks received, you can figure out who all I’m referring to. The only name that doesn’t match anything is Paula. I didn’t receive any Paula Deen cookbooks, but love her to death so she had to be included!

I’m not really sure where this will go or what I will talk about. I’m not even sure how many recipes of each book will get tested. I’m sure I’ll quickly find my favorites and cling to those. Right now I’ll shoot for one new recipe per week from one of the books or the random recipes. With the wedding planning, Becker CPA prep class, and CPA exam all going on right now too, I don’t even know how much I’ll actually get to do. We’ll just have to see how it goes for now. Anyway, I hope you enjoy reading this as much as I’m sure I will enjoy cooking (and eating) for it!