and so a new blog begins...

       hello hello!  truth be told, i'm new to the whole food blog world.  moreover, i'm new to the whole culinary creativity world.  i cook and i bake (the latter more frequently), but i've always been a recipe girl.  i pore over cookbooks and dog-ear pages of dishes that sound appealing, and eventually settle on one and head to the grocery store with a list of ingredients.  i always figured that, if it was good enough to be published, it was good enough to be followed.  i would write down the tried and true ones in a little notebook, which is still tucked in between my other cookbooks and, like its counterparts, is well-stained, well-wrinkled, yet well-loved.
       recently, however, i've been indulging in a bit of experimentation.  nothing too crazy.  throwing in different vegetables at the last minute, trying different spices, making my own pasta sauces.  and sure, there are have been some culinary flops.  it has taken me my entire high school and undergraduate career to find a solid chocolate chip cookie recipe.  8 years.  8 years!  of baking "meh", or at times, just plain "blech" cookies.  i might be considered picky; i like my chocolate chip cookies a little, JUST a little crisp around the edges, but chewy (not cakey, not crunchy) in the middle.  but dagnabbit, i was determined.  you'd be surprised at what you can compromise when baking.  for example, most of the time sometimes i'm very impatient and just soften the butter on the stove to the point of liquidity.  this works for some cookies, but for others, yields a very slimy, unmanageable dough.  the chewy, crispy-edged chocolate chip variety just so happens to be one of those cookies that requires a room-temperature softened butter.
       but i digress.  getting ahead of myself and spoiling all the good stuff before i even begin to share the recipes!  i'm doing this for what i assume is the same reason fellow food bloggers are writing for: because i love food, making said food, and gabbing about said food.  i don't have fancy equipment (doesn't mean i don't lust for le creuset cast iron cookware or maybe even just an electric hand mixer).  my kitchen is the size of a storage closet (you think i'm joking.  but there seriously can't be more than one person cooking at any given time or else it creates discomfort and claustrophobia).  i'm not a chef, by any means.  i'm a 22 year old with degrees in comparative literature and spanish.  but i love to partake in and share my culinary creations, and i love a challenge.  thus, foodie festivus is born.