9/21/14

Know your passion

 
I didn’t start out as a “Foodie”.  In fact, I paid no attention to cooking until I was in my mid-teens. I mentioned this in a previous post, but what started this lifelong interest began with a pineapple upside down cake.
I was about 15 if I recall. Kevin was my “heart throb”.  As teenage relationships go, we started our relationship when I was 13 with a ring from a Cracker Jack box. I can still recall the green ring around my finger it left.
 
In any case, Kevin loved pineapple upside down cake.  Being the adventurous type (not), I  wanted to make him one for his birthday.  Armed with a package of Betty Crocker (or was it Duncan Hines?...Who is Duncan Hines anyway?) pineapple upside down cake mix and an older brother that was happy to teach me how to break an egg. I baked my first cake.
 
Kevin never did eat the cake. He went  AWOL for a year….but that is another story.  Somehow in spite of my lack of knowledge, I managed to hook him and we moved in together when we were in college.
 
Hamburger Helper was my friend along with several recipes from my grandmother (take a little bit of this and a little bit of that) and some from my mom.   
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Well that wasn't enough for me so I started cutting out recipes and I haven’t stopped since.  I have been cutting them out for 40 years now.
Have I cooked them all? Not a chance. So why do I do it? As I grow the collection, I often ask myself that same question.
I have a healthy imagination and thinking about food nurtures my creative side. Food isn’t just about taste. It includes all our senses, touch, sight, sound (snap crackle pop) smell all come together to form our taste preferences.
So how do you know your passion? Well, all I have to do is look around my home to figure that out. Years ago a guy I was dating came over and said “Sheila, Sheila, Sheila what is it you want to do in life?”
He looked around my place and commented, “you want to be the best darn cook ever!”   Of course
he missed the closet full of fitness books and exercise equipment. Now that would really have confused him!
 
What is your passion?
This is what my passion looks like to me:

These are recipes I have cooked
These I haven't yet tried.







Just a few of my magazines
And books
and more books
and then there are the recipes on my computer...