So it begins...

Although I love to cook, and also love to eat, I do not consider myself a "foodie." Five years ago, I wouldn't eat anything that included onions or peppers, didn't like avacado (hadn't even tried it), and thought that the best meals were the ones that contained some sort of Campbell's creamed soup and cheese. Hmmm. How far I have already come. I generally consider myself an able cook, and can throw things together to make a decent meal, but I NEVER try new things. I never even want to try new things, because I am already sure that I won't like them. I do, however, want to want to try (and like) new things. I have a beautiful new daughter, and my hope for her is that she will love life with a passion, and will not be afraid to try new things. I want her to travel to other countries, and learn to love the foods (and culture) there. How can I teach my daughter to try (and like) new things, if I won't try them (or cook them in our house??)? I want to teach her from a young age how to cook, bake, and be passionate about food. I want to learn, so that I can teach her. This brings me to my new idea... I saw "Julie and Julia" the other day, and have been inspired. For the girl who still finds it hard to order a steak even medium-well because "it's only cooked when the pink is all gone," I definitely won't be going through Julia Child's French cookbook (way too many things that I would tell myself that I wouldn't like). I did pick up "The Joy of Cooking" the other day, and think this might work. I got this book for Christmas a few years ago, and have never opened it. Why, you might ask? Because it has no pictures. How can I make (and like) a recipe when I don't know what the food will look like in the end? If I can't see what it looks like, how will I know if I actually like it?? So back to picking it up again the other day. I actually started to READ through the book (novel idea), and decided that I should start making some of these recipes, kind of like Julie in the movie. My thought is that I would make at least 100 recipes from the Joy of Cooking in the next year - basically about 2 new recipes a week. My husband asked why I don't just make new recipes out of different books. I think that would defeat the purpose of trying new things. If I used muliple books, I would only pick out things that I thought I might like. This way, I will force myself to occasionally try a recipe that I normally would not try, and my wonderful husband will get to try new things as well (yay for him! He actually likes to try new things.). So begins my journey to possibly becoming a "foodie." I may not ever make it that far, but it's all about journey, right?