I think I'm in the midst of an existential crisis. Ha! But no, really. Hm. I'm not sure how to proceed.

On the upside of things, I love to cook. I'm discovering that there are truly not many things that I enjoy more than cooking. I've always cooked, in that I'd occasionally scramble some eggs for breakfast, open a packet of muffin mix and pour some water in, make some boxed macaroni and cheese and canned green beans to accompany a meatloaf dinner, etc, but I never got much further than that. And then!

Over the past few months, I've had two life changing experiences in the kitchen department. The first was, of course, seeing Julie and Julia over the summer...four times! This was the greatest movie I've seen in years. The passion of Julia Child was amazing, as well as all the scrumptious things she made! And of course, there was Amy Adams as Julie, the modern day chick who wrote a blog for a year, chronicling her journey through the Julia Child Cookbook. Watching the movie just made me want to run home and cook! But alas, I came home each time to no one to cook for...and no real plans to learn French cooking over the next year. I mean, I haven't even mastered American cooking yet!

So what better place for me to start than the Better Homes and Gardens cookbook. Yep, the red plaid one that we all own. Again, though, no one to cook for, though I did tackle about 15 recipes out of that sucker while Doug was home on leave. After years of begging me to make him fruit desserts (his absolute favorite, and one of my biggest fears in the kitchen. Why? no idea, they just always seemed so daunting to me.), I tackled the basic Apple Pie. And you know what? It was FANTASTIC!! Doug claims it's the best apple pie he's ever had, and I tend to believe him, evidenced by the fact that he singlehandedly finished 3/4 of it in 24 hours.

So that was Step 1. My next 2009 revelation was a recent visit to the Mississippi Coast, Biloxi to be exact. I was only there for 24 hours, but it left an impression with me that will most likely last the rest of my life. In the middle of the thriving city, still so recently devastated by Katrina, I found one of the most peaceful places I've ever known. It's a place where the rest of the world doesn't seem to exist. Fish are caught off the pier, vegetables grown in the garden, whole days are spent planting, harvesting, canning, and others spent relaxing on the dock with a good book and a cup of coffee. The whole thing was so self-sustaining, and I thought to myself, if I could disappear from my life one day, escape from technology, live the rest of my days growing my own food, cooking, and appreciating this earth; this is exactly where I'd want to do it.

So long story short, I learned many things in that magical day on the coast, and the one I'm utilizing the most is...Bread Making! Didn't see that coming, did you? I'm now the proud owner of my own sourdough starter, named Barb, after the most amazing lady who introduced me to this new world. In the past two weeks, I've made onion dill bread loaf, bacon cheese muffins, and banana nut muffins. Delish!! They have all been successes, and I look forward to many more bread making adventures.

For now, I'm going to have to say goodnight, though, as I have homemade lemon bars cooling on the rack as we speak. Time to shower them with some powdered sugar and get them into their individual baggies for tomorrow's bake sale.

Goodnight, all. Thanks for being loyal readers in spite of my long furlough.