I know, I know. I can barely keep Madd Hatter’s Diary up to date, and here I go creating not one blog, but a site containing three! Well, it’s something I’ve been thinking about for more than a year, and now I’m ready to jump in with both feet.

In April of 2009, I read a blog post somewhere (can’t remember where now) about whether or not cooking was intimidating. “Why on earth is cooking intimidating??!!” I thought. You either cook something you know how to cook, or you experiment – be it via a recipe, via instructions over the phone from a family member, or hell, you just wing it. Most of the time it’s gonna turn out okay enough to eat, and if not, just go out. As I read through the comments that day, however, I started thinking more about “intimidation” and what that meant to me.

My first flashback was to the days when I first started dating my now-hubby. I had made curry for him, and the next day at work, while eating leftovers, one of the conservationists said I must be brave, to cook curry for an Indian guy. I didn’t quite get it, but nodded at the time and mumbled and “Ummm, yeah…”.

Then, I begin to think about more recent dishes. When we were on our honeymoon, we ate at a wonderful Lebanese restaurant in Dubai, and one of the dishes we had there was a raw lamb that you ate with pita, kind of like a dip. Fast forward a few years later, and I had finally tracked down a recipe that I was ready to make, but there was definitely a little nervousness when I embarked upon making the spicy cig kofte. The main source of this nervousness was making sure I didn’t make my husband and myself ill on raw lamb, but I went to the farmer’s market, told them what I was doing, and made sure what they were selling me was able to be consumed raw. As an aside, I really need to make that meal again – it was wonderfully delicious, and almost as good of a memory as the honeymoon meal.

That meal, along with thoughts swirling around the blog post, sparked a light inside me that decided I need to share what I’m cooking with others. So I did, via Facebook, dinner parties, relaxed luncheons and the like. I’ve had friends tell me that I inspired them, friends that started cooking with their kids, friends that just seemed to slow down a bit and enjoy their dinner a bit more. So for the past year I’ve collected lots of ideas to share, with friends and more, via this blog. I hope you enjoy!

And I promise, I’ll post something more the norm than raw lamb 🙂

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miscellany by Courtney