Project Food Blog: Ready, Set, Blog! challenge #1

There once was a little girl.  She was born in the 70's...in a haze of Marley, Queen, Zeppelin, Floyd, Eagles, Aerosmith, Marvin Gaye.  A time when peace signs were flipped more often than the bird.  This little girl discovered something at a very young age.  What was this discovery, you ask?  Well, it was one of simple...and epic...proportions.  She discovered that there was a great big world kitchen full of glorious tasting things to put into her mouth.  These things were known to all as...FOOD.  If she happened to be feeling cranky because her tummy was empty and making scary noises, she could simply reach her chubby little hands towards one of the big metal boxes and one of the big people would fill them with something that smelled wildly delicious...and subdued those noises.

Over the next few years, as the little girl grew older and, of course, wiser...she continued to eat and explore this amazing world that began in the kitchen.  She found kitchens everywhere she traveled.  They were in her grandma and grandpas houses.  They were in her neighbors houses.  They even had them hidden in the back of the big buildings full of tables, where they sometimes went to sit and meet with other people to talk and laugh and listen to music.

The little girl wondered what else she could do with food...the possibilities seemed as endless as the long, sandy beach that she loved to run across with her sturdy bare feet.  Something this little girl really loved to do was to wrap up food in brown paper and old containers she found laying around the house and putting it into her grandma's sturdy basket (the one with the handles) to take out to the lawn.  She would sit on a blanket that was spread out under the beautiful crab apple tree.  She would gently unwrap that food with all ease in the world...and then savor it while enjoying the shade of that friendly tree.

Now, years rolled past and the little girl continued to grow.  She loved spaghetti night...that night in which, by some magical coincidence, she always ended up wearing the exact same white shirt (with little pieces of fruit covering the spot over her heart).  She never knew it was spaghetti night when she put it on that morning.  But inevitably, it was.

This was about the time that she also discovered her love for books...for reading books. She would read with a flashlight under her covers until her parents screamed up the stairs for her to go to bed. She could walk and read at the same time. These books...they would transport her to another place...another time...another life. She went through books faster than she went through napkins!

It was also around this time that sat down on the couch to watch television with her dad whenever she saw either one of two things on the screen....kung -fu or cooking shows.  They both captivated her full attention.  The beauty, the precision, the discipline, the talent flowing from their fingertips....those of the martial artists and the culinary artists.

Our little girl also fancied herself a student of the world...already...at the ripe old age of 12.  As she was pouring through books...or eating tacos...or watching, hearing, smelling the preparation of food...or pretending she was a kungfu master...or singing along at the top of her voice to one of her many favorite songs (did I mention that her Walkman was always clipped on to her waistband...a change of cassette nearby)...in her imagination she was up in lights.  She was sharing it with the world.  She began to write stories, as well.  It was a logical progression.  She could record the world as she saw it.  There, in print, for others to share her worldly adventures.

No longer little, this girl went on to high school...and college.  She armed  herself with a dorm-fridge, books, paper and pencils, cd's, her favorite kung-fu flicks, her aqua blue Le Clic camera...and her thirst for knowledge.  She was a dreamer well into her adult life.  Nothing ever seemed to quench her thirst. Nothing except for the time when she was learning about...or participating in...one of those things in particular.  She did not know what she wanted to do with her life.  She craved more than what she was doing.  Working in a decent paying job...that was boring her out of her mind.  She yearned for more...for adventure...for challenge...for passion!  She wanted to work, but she wanted work that didn't feel like work. 

She decided to go back to culinary school...and in turn worked in kitchens.  It was good.  Through it all she met a man, fell in love, got married...there were even a few kids that worked their way in in the midst of it all.  Although she was happy working with food, she was happiest when she was exploring food.  When she was learning about food.  Trying and cooking new things.  She wanted to travel and see the the food and people of different cultures.  She wanted to write it all down in one of the notebooks that were always somewhere nearby.

And then one day, by chance, she stumbled upon something called a blog.  You can imagine how quickly she was hooked.  She realized that she could do this herself.  She has discovered a way to roll all of her passions into one.  She could explore food in all of its facets...and then she put it into action.  She would research it.  She would cook it.  She could document the whole process through photographs and writing!  THIS WAS IT!  It was a culmination of all she'd been looking for...something that was work, that didn't feel like work.  She could learn and explore and grow and teach and share and socialize all at the same time.  She could speak of herself in the third person, even.

And maybe....just maybe...she could even get paid for it someday.  This is why she is entering Project Food Blog.  If YOU believe in THIS GIRL (this girl right here)...please register to vote over at FoodBuzz. 

....I will figure out a way to work the kung-fu in one of these days!!!