Welcome to the Smoking Stove!

I've never blogged before. In fact, I'm really just technically incompetent. But we'll see how it goes...

After spending 2.5 years in the dorms and a semester with a family in Spain, I'm finally living in an apartment for the first time! At both of my previous "homes" (in St. Louis, MO and in Bilbao, Spain), my parents (& host-parents) both cooked quite a bit, but I never really learned. Upon coming to school and living in an apartment, I found that I didn't have tons of time to cook, but I also didn't know what kinds of frozen things to buy (having little to no experience with them previously).

Maybe that makes me stuck up, but all I know is that I needed to learn how to make tasty food that wasn't completely loaded with fat/salt/etc. The first thing I made in my apartment last fall was a frozen pizza. I burned the hell out of it. No joke. But it turned out not to be my fault. Over the coarse of the next month or so, I learned that my oven (tiny as it is) needs to be set 25° lower than the instructions require -- it also cooks things in about 2/3 the time.

In case smoke pouring out of my oven and that wonderful burnt smell isn't enough, I've seen flames jump out of my saute pan on more than one occassion. However, those were mostly last semester and I'm getting better and better. I've found that the more successes I have, the more I love cooking. Even though everything I've made has been really simple and easy, I've been pretty impressed with myself and thought I'd share some of my favorite recipes. I should probably also mention here somewhere that I really, really love food. All kinds. Don't ask me my favorite.

Enjoy!
RedDelicious

P.S. Feel free to comment away....