I don't know if you know this about me, but I love food. Now, it's not just a blanket eat-a-bunch-of-twinkies-and-doritos kind of love. It's a holy-cow-with-the-right-ingredients-food-is-art kind of love. Anton Ego from Ratatouille says it best, "I don't LIKE food. I LOVE it. If I don't love it, then I don't SWALLOW." Obviously I am not this extreme, but I certainly related to this comment when he said it! Food looks beautiful, it smells beautiful, it tastes beautiful...there are different colors and textures and flavors that combine in infinite ways. All of your senses are engaged when the right dish comes together. I love looking at beautiful pictures of food and imagining how to tweak recipes so the flavor comes together in a symphony of perfection in your mouth. Does this sound overboard? Probably. But I am passionate about it.

I think probably everyone needs some sort of creative outlet. I mean, it's not really just about food...it's about the process...it's about painting a picture in your mind and then watching it come to life on the canvas. It's about taking the things inside you that you can't express and funneling them into something that you can. I think we all have a desire to create beauty in some way. It comes from being made in the image of a Creator who loves and creates beauty on a scale that is majestic and minute. We love to create because we are created.

I love to research the science behind food. I like to know why certain ingredients produce certain outcomes. Beautiful food is not just dependent on flavor...it's dependent on texture and mouth-feel. Quality ingredients beget quality food, method and technique influence how the flavors come together.

I am absolutely not claiming to be a chef or even an expert. I haven't attended culinary school and there are many, many things I do not know. I am probably a better baker than I am a cook, but I am still far from a professional. I have as many failures as I do successes. But, I love food. I love to make something that someone else enjoys. Someone loving something that I have made is a unique kind of joy for me. I love to express love to people through food. I love teaching my sons an appreciation for good food and I love teaching them how to make it.

I'm sure there are some who will read this and totally relate. Probably others will think I'm a lunatic. Either way, you should let me cook for you sometime. Hopefully it will taste good, but even if it doesn't, now you'll know what kind of love was put into it!