Project Food Blog : My blog eats your blog for breakfast. (jk.)(a little.)

JB Priestley and I – we are of like mind. He said “Many a man is praised for his reserve and so called shyness, when he is simply too proud to risk making a fool of himself.” I couldn’t agree more.  I tend to attack life without caution, running head first into the things I love because I know and trust that there is someone on the other side who will laugh.  And if there isn’t, then I don’t want to be friends with them anyway! 

I grew up in a small town in Kentucky - in the Bible belt - where you were taught family and God were first.  I moved to Ohio in the middle of my adolescence wondering how much of the world I hadn’t seen.  It was so different and it shook me to the core.  I swore from that moment that I would always leap at life.  I would always challenge myself to do more, to learn and question more, and to grow and accept more for my life.  While my (smokin’ hot and a RIOT after a marg) mom is quite possibly the best one out there, dinner wasn’t really her shebang.  She never liked cooking, and my family was busy, as most are, so sitting down to dinner wasn’t always a priority.   I honestly think the reason I am here today is because I was missing that.  I was so missing that time to sit down and enjoy my family that when I went away to college, the only time I felt relaxed was when I sat down to a an excellent meal with my friends.  That grew into a love of cooking for my friends.   I saw the looks on their faces when they would walk into my kitchen thinking “Good Christ a homemade meal, thank God I am so tired of pizza rolls.” I immediately, became addicted to that feeling.  

I have a theory about friends: they are the family that you choose.  In a way, you love your friends even more, because you know they don’t have to stick around, but they do, because they choose you.  Family doesn’t really have a choice.  They have to love you, it’s their job.  Your friends, they really love you.  

So I changed from a girl who never had a cooking role model to being one herself.  I decided that I didn’t need anyone to teach me how to work a kitchen, because I can do anything, literally anything I put my mind to.  And now, far and wide, friends and strangers alike reach out to me, asking me for my opinion on recipes and how I would plan a dinner party, asking advice for their own food blogs - and I still, am addicted to the feeling.  

My hope is that my readers feel like they are sitting at my kitchen counter, with a glass of wine in their hands, tears streaming their faces with laughter, eating a meal that was made with absolute love.   The idea of family dinners was born from this concept of your friends being the family you choose.  Every Sunday, the same group of friends gathers in the kitchen, the bottles of wine are opened, the laughter resonates through our tiny green apartment, and at last, I feel at home.   Amuse Bouche has become an extension of this family dinner.  I’ve gotten to know people all across the globe who share this same philosophy – that you should cook with love, and sit down and enjoy the company of those you love, with some excellent chow (and by George I hope you’re laughing while you’re screwing it up).  I mean look at the Italians, they have had it right for years and we are just now figuring this out?!?! 

I really encourage you to pop over to my food philosophy page to find out more, but for now, please know that I started this blog because I felt like I had something to gain from it, and now there are no words to describe what all of you all have given me through Amuse Bouche.  Connectivity, camaraderie, even more laughter, and a true extension of family.  

Whoa. That was tender, who the hell just took over my blog?  

So on to the part where I tell you my blog is the best and far superior to all other food blogs.  That is some bull.  This blog is accessible.  This blog is sincere, and most of all, it is effing funny.  It’s about making anyone feel like they are welcome in my home, and that is why it’s the best.  As a matter of fact, you should come over on Sunday – I’m making Turducken!  

 

So editors (Holy Crap Dana Cowin is reading my blog right now. Dana, Food & Wine 1999 was definitely the best year,) fellow featured publishers, and loyal friends and readers – I invite you into my home, let’s open a bottle of wine and laugh about how we may not know each other, but by George, we know food – and that is what brings us together.

Oh, I hope you’re not allergic…

 Stay tuned to read Kelley Edelmann's Letter to the Foodbuzz Editors tomorrow on why she thinks Amuse Bouche is the the winner of Project Food Blog!

Love,

Whit