Smitten Kitchen

Have your heard of Deb? She is my favorite. I would love to be her bff. Shout out!

I have made my way through (probably) hundreds of food blogs ever since I discovered my cooking obsession during spring break my 3rd year at UVA. Three of my friends were heading down to Florida and I had planned to go with them. It was going to be a blasty blast. We all drove up to my house the day before our 15-hour trip down, with the intention of picking up some stuff I needed as well as a friend who was meeting us in NoVA. Then, tragedy of all tragedies, my mom explained I had to choose between spring break in Florida and beach week with my sorority. Since beach week was more of a the-whole-school-goes-and-has-a-week-long-party-in-Myrtle thing, I chose beach week. More bang for my buck (it was only $40 since we crammed 15 people into a tiny house...that's another story). Anyway, I still had to drive my commrades back to Cville where they were leaving for the trip (I had driven them all to NoVA). The resentment at having to give up the trip kept me from driving back home so there I was, stuck at school. Thankfully, my boyfriend at the time was working there so he was stuck as well. I decided that, without anything else to do all day, I should cook a different, fancy dinner for two each night. It went swimmingly and I spent the rest of our year together cooking for him (sometimes happily and sometimes begrudgingly).

He is in the past but my need to cook, especially for those I love, remains. And it is fed by the many many food blogs I have found. Seeing what others create and hearing their stories of inspiration gives my ideas and offers a sort of second-degree support system when I am worried I won't be able to accomplish something.

Enter Smitten Kitchen. I found this blog way back when and it has been a favorite ever since. Some have come and gone, offering excitement at first then dwindling (I also forget about a few I really love which makes me sad but there are just so many to keep track of) but Smitten Kitchen has held strong. I have made a few things from her site (the chicken and mushroom marsala is a fave and leftovers are currently in my fridge) and bookmarked countless others.

So there it is. A glimpse at why I am the way I am. And a fabulous blog. Seriously. Go check it out. The cook something!

Spring has sprung....

...and I'm about to pop!

This weekend was a food fest like I have not experienced in a while (aside from the beautiful Italian Christmas feast I was included in a few months ago).

This past weekend housed both the beginning of Passover and Easter. That means I had a seder with my family on Saturday night (we had to skip Friday because mama wasn't feeling too hot) then I skipped on over to M's house for Easter dinner and a basket full of candy. There was brisket, soup, ham, lamb, pasta, pie, and birthday cake. Had I taken any pictures, I would share them (or maybe not since it seems I never share pictures on here. Sorry.) Everything was so delicious and I ended up driving home around 6pm and immediately passing out for 2 1/2 hours.

With a Jewish mother and Catholic father, I tend to dabble in both holiday worlds. I fully consider myself Jewish so the religious aspects of "dad's holidays" are fairly lost on me but I do enjoy the perks of Christmas dinner and presents, a King cake on Fat Tuesday and candy on Easter. The Jewish holidays hold more water to me and are times of prayer as well as celebration. I have always been taught more about them and I feel that, for me, understanding has brought belief.

That being said, I acknowledge that everyone has their own religious beliefs that they are entitled to. I don't think one religion makes more rational sense then another. I see them all as a set of beliefs put into place to help people. The idea of a higher power and the solidarity of belonging to a particular sect can be, at the minimum, a source of comfort, especially in times of sadness or difficulty. When observed, most religions hold the same basic moral standards and I find those to be the most important. So regardless of titles, religious ethics and moral standards are what link us together.

About a year ago, I had to have an important conversation with somebody in my life and it brought all these issues to light. I had never really taken a serious look at my religious beliefs or considered how they could (or should) affect my life decisions, especially if they didn't "match" what others close to be believed. My argument was similar to what I just said above. In the more specific matter of having children with someone of another religion, I believe it is more about specific teachings rather than grand labels. He did not feel the same way and that lack of faith in our future came to light in a terrible way. Ever since, this has been an issue I have had to consider and reconsider.

At the same time, I feel far too young to have to worry about that. I might use that as an excuse to avoid a few of my more "mature" issues.