The Kitchen, the heart of the home.

My favorite kitchen was our home in Alabama. It wasn’t perfect, but it sat as the thrown, looking out on our home, the living room, the dining room, and even to the outside and the hallways to the bedrooms. The kitchen is where it all happens—conversations as well as food-making and caring and loving (like putting bandaids on boo-boos :) I’ve had kitchens like galleys on a ship, and kitchens that were cut off from the rest of the house. I even had one kitchen that was as big as the one in your hotel room (not big at all!) No matter the size or the positioning, the kitchen becomes the center of the home.

My relationship with bread started long ago, making Challah bread with my mom for Sabbath dinners. But after I left home and tried it on my own, I just couldn’t quite get it right. My ovens weren’t the right temperature… my dough was under-proved… I just couldn’t figure out why, so I gave it up. I was gifted a bread machine once, and it was a beautiful chance to try again. And that seemed to work for me! But like most things big, bulky and needing to be pulled out of a cabinet (because I like clear counters), it was well used for about 3 years before it slowly became unused. :’(

I discovered sourdough after my diagnosis of Ulcerative Colitis. I was looking for gut friendly food! And sourdough was at the top of the list. I bought for quite a while, from Aldi, but they had a couple months in 2022 when they weren’t shelfing their sourdough bread. I don’t know why, but I was desperate. Inspired my sourdough-making neighbor, I tried my hand at starting sourdough. It took a couple tries, but eventually, I ended up with Archie, my sourdough starter, now 15 months old.

But we don’t do only bread around here!

Food Network, in my early years of marriage, encouraged me to start throwing flavors together. It’s amazing how amazing you think you can be by watching other people do something. Chop, saute, flavor,… swirl and throw it all on a plate. Right? Cooking show 101. Just look confident doing it. And smell that stuff first.

Recipes are optional.