Flourish is about food, cooking and taking advantage of the choices the culinary world has to offer. There are so many things you have to do in life: breath air, drink clean water, eat, sleep, pay taxes and die. You don’t get a choice, you just have to do these things. The only task on the list that allows you any real choice is eating. Yes you have to eat. But unlike breathing and paying taxes you actually get some choice in the matter. You can chose to eat a potato instead of a carrot, to eat a purple potato in place of a white one, or not to eat potatoes at all. You chose when you eat, how much and how often. You can have a bagel with peanut butter on top of a mountain or five courses in a four star restaurant. You can eat fast food and take out everyday or you can spend a little time in your kitchen making tasty food that you can be proud of. That’s where flourishing starts. Deciding to take advantage of your options and cook for yourself. Making the choice to enjoy something that you have to do rather than resenting it.
About Me
I was probably a cook before I was born. I was the kid who only wanted to play house, and then only baking. When I washed the dishes with my mom I would pretend the bubbles and dish water were soup and drinks. I would make mud chocolate truffles, a step up from mud pies. My best friend had a weal barrow in her back yard, and in the fall when it would fill with leaves and water. A tennis racket became a fryer basket, the leaves turned into french fries and the weal barrow full of water was a giant vat of boiling oil.
More recently, I’ve been a cook in real life in real restaurants and hotels. For the past five years in fact, people have actually given me money to cook! Being allowed into real restaurant kitchens every day and having access to the best ingredients, coolest equipment and sharpest culinary minds has been the best education I could ask for. It has also been fun and hard and heart breaking, the source of joy, laughter, tears and even blood.
Presently, I’m flourishing. I’m using the lessons I’ve learned in the kitchen in my every day life. I write, I read a Lot, I take the pictures for this site (unless otherwise noted) and I cook the food. I test all of the recipes. I also eat. I eat a lot. I eat everything. My boyfriend (a major player in the supporting cast) has some dietary restrictions. He eats a mostly vegan diet. But does that faze me? Nope! I just get to learn more about food!
About the Supporting Cast
My Boyfriend Fiance is: Tony, the most wonderful man I know, my Guinea Pig, my one man pit crew, my partner in awesome (we don’t do crime), a happiness expert, the reason I flourish rather than just surviving.
My Mom is: a “guerrilla farmer”, a scientist, the source of my flower and garden pictures, my editor, a lover of lists, the prototype for me.
John is: my step dad, a philosopher and really smart guy, a very good cook, a preserver of American culinary heritage, creator of “the redneck collection” which could be the only genre of CD’s time life has yet to capitalize on, the one who provides classic and country recipes from out of print, rare and antique cookbooks.
Caroline is: the inspiration for this site, my older sister, too far away, pretty, funny, really smart and quite artistic, capable of anything…in a good way.
Margaret is: the other vegan in my life, quite the baker, a super server, also too far away, funny, bright and shinny as a new penny, my little sister.
Feel free to use the photos and writing posted on this site, as long as the work is attributed to me through citation or by linking to this blog, and work resulting from my photos/writing remains protected under a similar or equivelant license.
All that you see here…
About Flourish
Flourish is about food, cooking and taking advantage of the choices the culinary world has to offer. There are so many things you have to do in life: breath air, drink clean water, eat, sleep, pay taxes and die. You don’t get a choice, you just have to do these things. The only task on the list that allows you any real choice is eating. Yes you have to eat. But unlike breathing and paying taxes you actually get some choice in the matter. You can chose to eat a potato instead of a carrot, to eat a purple potato in place of a white one, or not to eat potatoes at all. You chose when you eat, how much and how often. You can have a bagel with peanut butter on top of a mountain or five courses in a four star restaurant. You can eat fast food and take out everyday or you can spend a little time in your kitchen making tasty food that you can be proud of. That’s where flourishing starts. Deciding to take advantage of your options and cook for yourself. Making the choice to enjoy something that you have to do rather than resenting it.
About Me
I was probably a cook before I was born. I was the kid who only wanted to play house, and then only baking. When I washed the dishes with my mom I would pretend the bubbles and dish water were soup and drinks. I would make mud chocolate truffles, a step up from mud pies. My best friend had a weal barrow in her back yard, and in the fall when it would fill with leaves and water. A tennis racket became a fryer basket, the leaves turned into french fries and the weal barrow full of water was a giant vat of boiling oil.
More recently, I’ve been a cook in real life in real restaurants and hotels. For the past five years in fact, people have actually given me money to cook! Being allowed into real restaurant kitchens every day and having access to the best ingredients, coolest equipment and sharpest culinary minds has been the best education I could ask for. It has also been fun and hard and heart breaking, the source of joy, laughter, tears and even blood.
Presently, I’m flourishing. I’m using the lessons I’ve learned in the kitchen in my every day life. I write, I read a Lot, I take the pictures for this site (unless otherwise noted) and I cook the food. I test all of the recipes. I also eat. I eat a lot. I eat everything. My boyfriend (a major player in the supporting cast) has some dietary restrictions. He eats a mostly vegan diet. But does that faze me? Nope! I just get to learn more about food!
About the Supporting Cast
My Boyfriend Fiance is: Tony, the most wonderful man I know, my Guinea Pig, my one man pit crew, my partner in awesome (we don’t do crime), a happiness expert, the reason I flourish rather than just surviving.
My Mom is: a “guerrilla farmer”, a scientist, the source of my flower and garden pictures, my editor, a lover of lists, the prototype for me.
John is: my step dad, a philosopher and really smart guy, a very good cook, a preserver of American culinary heritage, creator of “the redneck collection” which could be the only genre of CD’s time life has yet to capitalize on, the one who provides classic and country recipes from out of print, rare and antique cookbooks.
Caroline is: the inspiration for this site, my older sister, too far away, pretty, funny, really smart and quite artistic, capable of anything…in a good way.
Margaret is: the other vegan in my life, quite the baker, a super server, also too far away, funny, bright and shinny as a new penny, my little sister.
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Feel free to use the photos and writing posted on this site, as long as the work is attributed to me through citation or by linking to this blog, and work resulting from my photos/writing remains protected under a similar or equivelant license.