For the Love of Food

 When I was growing up I had the great misfortune to be served a severely bland diet. My mother, bless her, she is great, is not much of a cook. Like most people she cooks some things well, but always under seasoned and lacking in flavour. Nor is my mother adventurous when it comes to trying new foods. Needless to say I did not know better, until I was in high school and my best friend invited me over to his house for dinner! A whole new world of food opened up to me. My friend, Jim, is Portuguese. His mother made the tastiest food I had ever eaten. She served an incredible soup made of Kale, beans and sausage. Then she served up some octopus and hard crusty bread. Wow, what an explosion of flavours. I savoured every morsel. As I grew older and was able (and allowed) to cook for myself I would try making foods that were different than my mother’s usual meat and potato based meals. The culinary world did really hit me until I went off to college. There I took every opportunity to eat different foods from as many cultures as possible. When I met my husband, my true adventures in food began. I consider myself blessed not only to have a great man, but that he is Italian to boot!  He is also a foodie, so we explored foods together. His lovely mother has been an inspiration to me when it comes to cooking. She taught me how to make good Marinara sauce, Ragu, Pasta Fagioli and an endless array of delectable goods. I now consider myself a foodie. I love food and everything about it. I love shopping for ingredients, chopping and prepping food for a big cook off. I love the smell of garlic when it fries in olive oil. I love to taste rich flavours, see steaming hot bowls of soup, pasta boiling away in a pot....and of course, I enjoy sipping on wine as I cook.

I plan on sharing with you some of my favourite recipes. Ones that make me feel good inside, some of my fave comfort foods. So stay tuned and enjoy.