Foreword: Clueless in the Kitchen

-An Introduction-

I always grew up with my mom making meals by herself in the kitchen. I never asked her to teach me how to make anything; obviously, I wasn't being smart and, you know, thinking ahead. Now that I'm going into my 3rd year of college, I feel like its time I learned how to cook so I can stay healthy, feel more independent, and be more open-minded about food. Last year, my diet was particularly terrible and hardly ever involved any cooking at all. I think the most cooking I ever did was boiling noodles, then adding butter and garlic salt (and quite often I would either forgot to salt the water or put the noodles in AFTER the water starts to boil). My diet primarily consisted of pop tarts, granola bars, boxed mashed potatoes, cheezits, diet coke, pita chips and hummus. During that time, I also noticed I was gaining weight. No, this isn't a sob story about getting fat and wanting to be the next biggest loser. What this is an open proclamation that I will eat better and be more self-sufficient in my preparation and consumption of food! And let me just say...

I have always taken food for granted.

-A Catalyst-

Well, it's time for that to stop, and a recent event sparked this interest in food in general. I recently took a trip to Panama for three months. I was working as an intern for a company called Kalu Yala which hopes to build a sustainable community in the rainforest in central Panama. My job was to study the plant life of the nearby community called San Miguel and learn about their uses of each plant; somewhat of an ethnobotanical study, if you will. I will not lie and say that the town had a knack for being super health and always eating the freshest of produce. What I will say is that they know how to cook. The people in this town introduced me to many plants (fruits, vegetables, root vegetables, and herbs) that they use to maintain their health and thrill their taste buds. I realized upon returning to the United States, after writing a book entitled Plants of San Miguel for Kalu Yala's use, my eating habits SUCK. It's time for a change, and this was the catalyst.

-A New Book-

This blog will be like my new book, my new baby. I want to learn how to cook not only to feel healthier, but also to diversify my food tastes and impress my friends (and future dates/boyfriends). Yes, "boyfriendS". As in plural. Such is the life of a gay boy in college! But seriously, this blog will be a database of my successes and failures in the kitchen. It's like my... recipe box... or my cookbook...

THIS IS MY COOKBOOK.

Enjoy it! Please help me by giving me advice/tips/tricks/hints! I'm going to need it. Oh! And support! And possibly a band-aid or two.