The Story Behind the Blog

My mom passed away on March 5, 2010 after a 10 year war with ovarian cancer.  It's been a difficult few months as I learn to live in my new version of 'normal life' without her.  I've been thinking a lot about throwing myself into a project.  I wanted it to be something fun that I wouldn't get bored with after a short time.  I thought about training for a marathon or something, but then I got realistic.  I hate to run, so that would get old in about 5 minutes.  Then it came to me.  BAKE!

My mother & I often baked and cooked together.  We threw regular dinner parties, and loved to entertain.

This past Christmas, she bought me the Julia Child cookbook after we watched the movie "Julie & Julia" together.  I told her that I had no interest in trying out all of the recipes a la the heroine of that movie, but I thought it might be fun to try making all of the desserts.

My goal is to make my way through the dessert sections of all of my cookbooks.  I have this one that my sister gave me years ago called "The Little Black Book of Chocolate".  I've never made one single recipe out of it, even though I look at it from time to time.  It's like a dirty magazine for my inner fat girl.

I know I won't be able to bake something new every day, but my goal is to try out at least one new dessert recipe a week.  Since I'm also trying not to look like a manatee at the water park this summer, I'll try to limit myself to sampling a few bites of each dessert.  The rest can be devoured by my children (two tween-aged boys should make good work of a lot of it), and by my husband's office mates.

I'm looking forward to the fun (and irritation) ahead!  I'll post the recipes, and always give credit to the author and cookbook. 

My mom inspired me in a lot of ways.  One thing she always made time for were the things she was passionate about.  I'm hoping that I can channel some of her drive and focus, and hone my baking skills in the process.  Who knows, maybe a career change is in store!

=)

Shell