Start your Whisks...

Welcome kitchen geeks!

I have a hands down sickness for eating and cooking and baking and chopping and...you get me. I have decided to start this at the urging of several friends who have asked for recipes and figured...well, why not. I like to write and am finding alot of fun sharing stuff with the big ol' world out there. Who they aren, I'm unsure, but maybe one person wants a recipe and I helped. Lord knows, the internet has given me plenty by way of recipes!

I've been a big cook since as far back as I can remember. I grew up middle class, with a mom who had a fantastic talent to cook and "after she had kids, the house plants died and she didn't have tons of time to make all day spaghetti sauce any more."....enter me.

I've gotten my hands on her recipes as well as many others along the way. Growing up in a huge city, I have gotten the taste for Vietnamese, Indian, Thai, Mexican, Greek, even Bosnian. You name it. I've learned techniques and spices and seasonings. These dishes not only have added a great level to my cooking, but they've also helped me learn that there's a bigger world than the fantastic home cooking that I grew up on.

I will admit my food tends to never be "hoity toity". I can make it look that way, but to me, it's like what people in the wedding cake business tend to struggle with. It can look absolutely beautiful, but it HAS to taste good. So with that said, I can serve up anything on a leaf of endive or on a perfectly toasted canape base, but unless that morsel tastes great, I'm just not into it.

Let's not forget one big thing to me, I'm cheap and impatient. I'm not into mushrooms you can only find growing on the side of a mountain in China and mortgage your house for. I'm also into using convenience products when it's not hurting the overall dish. I'm not asking you to spend all day unless it's totally worth it and while I'm a self professed, self indulgent gadget junkie (My name is Lesley and yes, I'm beverage and chocolate fountain owner...) I also feel like anyone can get by on a good skillet, pot and a knife.

There's the whole underlying need for me to "feed the masses". Growing up, no matter what, when we did have guests over, all stops were pulled out and we made sure that there was a feast on the table. Cook like you have 20 people coming when there is only 10 invited. It's how I learned to love people, by feeding them. So here's to feeding the masses in a new conduit, welcome to my blog.