So the next bit about myself I’m going to share with you is linked straight to my love of food. If you aren’t aware of my absolute LOVE of food then you missed some stuff.

ANYway, I love food. Odd that I don’t weigh more than I do when you consider how much I love good food and trying new things. Oh yeah, that’s right. I don’t get STUPID about it, I remember moderation. I guess my definition of good food helps too.

Good food or great food is usually made from scratch with fresh ingredients. Preferably things that haven’t been processed to the point of being unrecognizable as food. If it takes an advanced degree in chemistry to understand the label on something, I have to SERIOUSLY reconsider eating it.

Food, glorious fooood. Sorry, I got the song from “Ice Age” stuck in my head for a moment. I love to eat food, and I also love to cook. I really like cooking for others, but I have been known to cook just for me too.

Once upon a time in a galaxy far, far away I was in the US Army. The food was often quite bad, that’s not just a myth. I learned how to cook out of self-defense. I had (luckily) been taught a few things by my mother when I was young, and I expanded upon that while I was in the Army. I came up with a recipe for chili that to this day creates converts. That is to say, at least two people who HATED chili of all kinds gave mine a taste and could NOT get enough. My chili doesn’t get made very often and when it does, it is an event. It takes two days to make, preferably three for maximum impact (the third day is to just let it sit in the refrigerator so all the flavors marry). My chili is one of those things that has a billion ingredients and makes people say things like “You put WHAT in it?!” It isn’t hot, it’s balanced. Add your own heat at the table if you want it hotter (I do).

Yep, I’m an awesome cook (if I must say so myself). I used to HATE white meat turkey so I found a way to cook it so I like it. Now my turkey is a two day event that causes drooling throughout the house. My wife Briana once said she missed pot roast so I threw one together. I had never made one before, but I did it anyway. Turned out to be the best pot roast that I had ever tasted (simple to make too!).

I have a knack for flavors and sauces for some bizarre reason. “Could you make the sauteed onions and mushrooms into a sauce for the steak?” No problem I say as I start grabbing stuff from the pantry. Viola! Onion and mushroom gravy from scratch that tastes better than from a restaurant.

I watch a lot of Food Network and I like to find new stuff at the grocery store to try. Who knew that hummus would make such an awesome sauce base for panko breaded chicken? Why not use apple jelly as a sweetener for a stir-fry sauce? How about using some coffee to deglaze a pan to make a sauce for seared haddock?

I love to cook BECAUSE I love to eat. The better I can cook, the better I eat. Simple.

dracoselene

I'm an artist, writer, ordained interfaith minister, veteran, spiritualist, androgyne, and piles of other labels that never seem to fit. I'm following my passion and attempting to make myself and the world a better place. I think that through compassion and understanding we can all become one unified race of human beings, and life is better when you remember to play.