PAPA MAKE THAT: A blog you will like.

As many of my online friends (and some of my old school flesh and bone friends) may know, I've recently bowed out of the rat race to stay my ass at home and raise babychildren full-time. Well, almost. I can't give work up altogether, I wouldn't know how to act.

One of the most important roles I've assumed in this new job is "cooker of the foods." Now I've been known to scare up a meal or two, but cooking has never been my main thing. My Mom is a great cook, and no doubt thanks to her influence, both of my sisters are great cooks and what you might call "foodies" if you were so inclined. "Food and cooking enthusiasts" might be a less obnoxious term. It seems people in this family come by the cooking gene naturally. So I thought I'd give cookery a try. Somebody had to do it, might as well be me. So far I think I've done ok, but I haven't ventured very far out of my comfort zone. I intend to take some risks, learn some new things about myself, and eat a hell of alot of delicious food along the way.

Weekly (some times more often, probably sometimes less) I will challenge myself—or shall I say Beth will challenge me— with using some kind of new and interesting ingredient, be it something that was crazy on sale, something weird in the market that caught our eye, or maybe unexpectedly copious bounty from the garden (think zucchini!) I also welcome suggestions for interesting ingredients from you. It's sort of like TV's Iron Chef, without all of the skill and much less Alton Brown and squid.

I hereby invite you to read along as I cook, eat, learn, love, win, fail, succeed and stumble my way through the kitchen on this quest to keep my family alive, full and happy.