The Start of an Adventure

By Justine C. Tajonera

I've always told people I don't know how to cook. It's been my story for ages. Oh, I've never found the time. Oh, my brother cooks, my sister bakes and... I write. I don't need to cook, really.

Stalled Start
Two years ago, some friends of mine were exploring the idea of coming up with a cook book for first time cooks. People who had just gotten married and were now faced with their own kitchens. We were excited! We said we would start with a blog. The task was assigned to me because I already had two blogs to my name. However, I never got it started. I had a lot of excuses: life got in the way, I was struggling at work, I don't have the time. Pretty much all the excuses for not really pursuing something that I said I would do.

A Life of Adventure
However, just today, something occurred to me. I want to live a life of adventure. I want my family to live a life of adventure. We committed to going to Kyoto in March. However, we're backlogged with bills and we realized that a lot of our credit card expenses were from eating out. Hmmm. It all came together.

A life of adventure is a life of going beyond my limits, my stories like "I'll never learn how to cook." A life of adventure isn't necessarily a life of luxury. It's a life of doing new things, exploring new ways of being. And the big side benefits are: saving money (including learning how to get
an exact budget around our groceries and really planning our meals) and eating healthy.

So, today I called up my friends and my sister and I shared with them that I was finally putting up this blog. A historic first day.

A Vision of Good Things
I have no recipes to share here yet. But I see a vision of abundance on this blog:

• Friends generously sharing tried and tested recipes

• Friends sharing the stories behind the recipes or occasions when the recipes were prepared and served (including frustrations, mistakes and struggles). A no-holds-barred account of the cooking process.

• Friends sharing advice with first time cooks like me (who think they don't have what it takes to cook). One step at a time procedures, tips and sisterly encouragement when things don't go as planned.
  

Friends in the kitchen is a starting place for me. It's my way of affirming my possibility of a life of adventure. And what better place to start than in the kitchen, among friends? I raise a toast to my friends, to a delicious life, and the creation of wonderful meals for people we love.

(Jan. 30, 2010)
Image from http://www.flickr.com/photos/84834136@N00/54678798