Hooray, Food!

And hooray for my inaugural Eaterrific post. Oh, boy!

I've been issuing food updates to my long-suffering Facebook friends and Twitter followers for a few months now, to the point where people think I do nothing at all except cook, eat, and cruise farmers' markets looking for loose produce.

I really do have a life beyond food: a fab spouse, a darling stepson, a ukulele, three cats, and a writing career. More on this in future posts. For now, since Eaterrific's raison d'être is food, let's get on with it.

The thing is, I really, really love food. And as luck would have it, I'm a pretty good cook. This is due largely to my Dad, who taught me many things about cooking, and my Mum, who taught me many things about eating (such as: what, how much, and when - not to mention which utensil).

I've always been comfortable chucking stuff into a pot and seeing what happens, but over the last two years my husband and I have - dramatic pause - Turned Over a New Leaf. A common affliction in one's 40s, I believe. So these days I still chuck stuff into a pot and see what happens, but it's a better caliber of stuff (same pot, though). This is not to say that I'm a card-carrying Whole Foods Ho - far from it. I'm more of a Trader Joe's Tramp, if it comes to that. But I do believe in eating healthy stuff that tastes terrific.

And I don't think cooking healthy stuff that tastes terrific should be a huge pain in the ass. Rather, it should mainly be quick and easy and not involve a billion pots and pans and food processors and gadgets and steps and taking crap in and out of goddamn ovens and brown this and chill that and blah blah blah until you want to retire weeping in a corner dreaming of cocktails and fried chicken that someone else made.

Sure there are times when it's fun to make some over the top extravaganza, but that is definitely the exception, not the rule. What you'll see here - usually - will be what I found at the market and what I threw together for dinner, along with an ingredient list and a recipe. And I'll talk about ways to simplify cooking at home, and get great results.

I'll get on it tomorrow... right after the farmers' market.

J.