A belated introduction

One of my earliest memories with one of my greatest loves.

A gingerbread woman from McFadgen Bakery in Glace Bay and a coffee.

I love gingerbread people. The taste of gingerbread is one of my earliest memories. I was born in Glace Bay,  but my family moved to Dartmouth when I was three. My dad used to pick up these cookies for us when I was a little girl. It's one of the only things I vaguely remember about living in Cape Breton. The coffee shop (more about that later) behind my apartment building sells these cookies, much to my happiness. 

So. I realized I'm more than a month into this blog and I haven't properly introduced myself. It's somewhat presumptuous of me to assume all my readers know who I am and what I'm about, especially when it comes to food.

My family is pretty adventurous when it comes to food. My mom is an incredible baker and my father is an amazing cook. We were always eating something different; I had my first boeuf bourguignon when I was eight. It took my dad two days to make it and he swore he'd never do it again. Which is too bad, because it's one of the best things I've ever eaten. My mom makes the best chocolate cake in the entire universe; my sisters and I always preferred them to the fancy bakery cakes.

You'd think with this kind of upbringing, I would have developed some baking and/or cooking chops of my own. Not so. In fact, I could barely pass home ec. I set off fire alarms boiling water. I couldn't even master Kraft Dinner. It made me the butt of many jokes in school and university. 

I got tired of people making fun of me, so I decided to learn how to cook. How hard could it be, I thought... I can read a recipe! I can follow directions! 

I started small, and just kept working through all the mistakes and disasters (ooh! I'm going to add even more cayenne to this!). I had dinner parties and brave friends. I had a great support system.

I found myself in Japan. I ate everything. I came back to Canada, worked at an Italian grocery/deli (where I met my best friend, DeeDee), went back to Japan for a year and stayed for just over six. I traveled throughout Asia and the Middle East. I ate everything there, too. 

I came back to Canada, went to culinary school for four years with my other best friend, Molly. I lived with a bear (hello, Mr. Bear). I worked in kitchens and product development. I designed meals with some fabulous people. I got laid off, which made me sad. I found a new job... and moved back to the homeland, Cape Breton.

So, here I am. Eating and cooking and eating and ranting about margarine (don't use it!) and eating and finding my feet here in Sydney. 

I'm pretty happy to be here... I feel like, for the first time in years, I'm home. 

So, enough about me. I'll get back to the food tomorrow. 

dinner ditty ~ Heroes and Villains - Brian Wilson