In the beginning, there was... pasta sauce

This will not be a normal food blog. So be ready, because I'm not sorry about it.

I will not be teaching you how to cook.

I am an impatient cook. I adore the fact that I am normally lacking at least one ingredient in the recipes I attempt to make. I end up experimenting with ingredients and really trying to use what I have on hand. I despise running out to the store to get a specific missing ingredient. When I've found a recipe worthy of my time, I intend to cook it right away. This usually involves improvising, and sometimes my creations do not work out. But when they do, I give myself a high-5 and share the goodness with my favorite people.

You may be wondering how I became such a fearless home cook and I can tell you that it grew from many years of practice. I believe that all cooks go through stages:

1. Realizing that cooking happens
2. Wondering if you can learn to cook, too
3. Researching cooking methods and recipes
4. Acquiring the appropriate equipment
5. Attempting recipes and actually following each step
6. Gradually adding more improvisation to recipes
7. Only needing to read ingredients, mostly improvisation
8. A free- for- all in the kitchen, with amazingly creative results

If you are reading this, I hope that you are at least at stage 6. This means that we can have fun together and you won't judge me for not measuring everything. (If you are baking, you should definitely still measure, or better yet, weigh out your ingredients.)

I may be a 20-something, but I have been cooking since I was able to stand up and stir my grandma's tomato sauce pot. I've been around and involved in making food for practically my whole life. So please get ready to join me in food experiments made with love, impatience, and a passion for enjoying the yummy things in life.

xoxo Sam