After some prodding from a few friends about how I should write a food and cooking blog, I’ve gone and done it. Granted, I already have one online, but that’s also mixed in with so much more of my private life, that I wasn’t up to making all of that public. Oh, I’m sure you’re a nice person, but you know what I mean. I wanted to have something to put out there publicly, and hopefully have some discussion about not only food and how to cook, but some of my other favorite things in relation to food especially my local farmer’s markets, cookbooks, events, chefs, and restaurants.
This will be a very Los Angeles-centered blog, because, well, I live here. Ok, fine, I live in the San Fernando Valley, which is still technically Los Angeles (depending on what part you’re in)–no matter, it’s still Los Angeles County. I’ve lived in one part of L.A. or the other for about 34 of my 38 years. I graduated from the California School of Culinary Arts in Pasadena with a Le Cordon Bleu diploma, and worked several years as a chef; I did time with Patina, Border Grill, and Axe, and then spent a few years as sous chef for a very small catering company where we provided the lunches for the cast and crew of a few NBC television shows. Life took a turn when the owner of the catering company, after adopting two children, decided she was finished working and wanted to focus on raising her two children–and who can blame her? I certainly couldn’t, because 3 days after we closed up shop, I found out I was expecting.
There are plenty of women who can balance the working demands of the restaurant world and are able, somehow, to raise a family, and I give them their due respect. Me, my priorities changed, and my being around to raise Kiddo became the first thing on my plate. I’m working now, but I’m back working in the industry I was in for a decade before I started culinary school–architectural glass.
I still love to cook. And, here we are.
A few notes on my philosophy about food:
- Fat is not a dirty word. Our ancestors understood fat was good stuff–real fat like butter and lard and olive oil–not anything that requires a factory to produce to substitute what we were evolved to digest. Our bodies need fat in our diets, and there’s nothing wrong with having a little bacon with your eggs and butter on your biscuits.
- Humans evolved to be omnivorous, and it’s the modern developments on how we are able to obtain food that have made vegetarianism a viable dietary choice rather than an unusual, radical one. There is the occasional celebration of roasted animal here–I’m just giving you fair warning if you’re sensitive to the consumption of meat.
- That being said, I do love me some fruits and vegetables. Sometimes, a home-grown tomato with a dash of salt is all I need to satisfy a craving.
- I’m not going to turn my nose up at the occasional shortcut. I work and do other things, and sometimes a shortcut will give me a few more minutes to do the things I think are important and shouldn’t be skipped. Case in point: I often buy Pillsbury pie dough because I have a tile countertop and rolling out any dough means having to scrub flour and dough bits out of the grout, and frankly, that sucks. I’d rather buy the dough and focus on the filling which, really, is much more important. If you’re horrified and tell me, “but it’s so easy to make a pie crust!” I’ll just nod my head and ask you to buy me a new countertop that’s easier to clean.
- Like Emeril used to say, It ain’t rocket science. If I can do it, so can you.
- Simple food made with love has the potential to be one of the best meals you’ll ever have.
I’ve decided I’m in love with your blog. I know it’s kinda soon and maybe we’re moving too fast, but I think I’d like us to go steady now.
Well, I really like your blog, too, but if we’re going steady, you’ll have to promise to call me Jen. 🙂
I can do that, Jen. 🙂
Hi Jen,
I just wanted to drop you a line and tell you how much I enjoy your site. Your pictures look great enough to eat!
I wanted to make you aware of a new free resource for the food blogger, DamnFineEating.com. DamnFineEating.com is a food photo blog open to everyone, you can upload and share your photos on the site and link them to your food blog. It’s just another free tool out there to help you drive more traffic to your site.
I invite you to become a member today at http://www.damnfineeating.com/register.php. Once a member, you can also add the DFE badge to your blog to encourage your readers to follow your food pictures, information on how to do this can be found on our site.
Thanks and keep on blogging!
Cheers,
Ryan
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http://www.damnfineeating.com | Upload Your Food Pics
http://www.dineandcook.com
Dine & Cook, launching Memorial Day 2010
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Hi!! You recently left me a post on my blog. I LOVE your pictures and your food, so it’s a pleasure to have your site on my blogroll. I love food and trying my hand at new things. I have no formal training, but sites like yours inspire me to make food that is both aesthetically pleasing and tasty! Thanks for sharing!!
Hala
http://mymeproject.wordpress.com
Greetings from Melbourne, Australia. Thanks for the interesting post. It helped me a lot with my school cooking research 🙂
Hi Jen,
I’m trying to reach you to discuss the possibility of including a few of your recipes (with credit and a link) in a meal plan web app I’ve created. I can’t find a contact form here so I figured I’d try leaving a comment. Can you please contact me at this email address to discuss this further?
Thanks,
Chris
An old friend of yours from days-gone-by suggested your blog to me. He was right on. I told him if you lived in Oklahoma, we’d probably be best buds! Your blog is great and your recipes look wonderful! I can’t wait to try them out.