Hi there. I have been cooking for years, but I got really into it during COVID, when I suddenly had to produce two meals a day (spouse and I get up at way different hours, so breakfast is on your own).
I hit the books to get ideas. I have always been a reader, and I collect books. Lots of books. They reflect my interests, where I have been, and so on. I have two bookshelves of cookbooks, and I started reviewing — and cooking from them every day.
All the reading and cooking gave me time to reflect — on what foods I liked, and why, and where I had learned to cook those particular dishes. I saw that I prefer pretty simple, old-fashioned cooking — the kind grandmas do all over the world. It recalled for me the tables both my mother and mother-in-law set for family and friends.
My MIL Mary was an old-school Southern cook, with a great sense of humor and the ability to crush a table with multiple, delicious dishes. Once you cleaned a plate, she’d look across the table at you, and ask the fateful question:
“What will you have?”
That has stuck with me, and without consciously realizing it, it has become my entertaining style.
Once we could have friends over for dinners again, I shared all sorts of new dishes with them, and we all enjoyed the time together. And I asked everyone that question many times during our meals together.
This site is my way to explore the idea further, with recipes I have developed from my travels, my too many cookbooks, and years of cooking for friends.
I’ll also yack about food I love, cooking techniques and tricks for the home cook (I will apologize up front any time I do a chef thing I got from some show on Food Network or some blog), and my totally personal notes on cookbooks that I love.
Let’s get cooking….