Here it is. Post #1.

I love food. If I had a dollar for every person who says that, I would be a multi-millionaire. What I mean is, I REALLY love food - not just the act of preparing a meal or eating one but everything around what makes food, how it gets to the table and how it tastes. I enjoy learning and experiencing every aspect of food culture - from celebrity chefs and cookbook writers and food bloggers to dairy farmers and restaurateurs and food critics. Every one of our family’s vacations revolves not around the tourist attractions but around the restaurants and the street food. I get weak in the knees thinking about Eric Ripert (not just because he's hot and has a dreamy French accent) and Thomas Keller (sigh....one day I will eat at The French Laundry). Food in our culture is so fascinating and exciting. It makes me giddy. But lest I lead you to believe that food elicits nothing but joy and excitement from me, let me set the record straight.

I am a full-time working mother in the corporate world. I have a wonderful husband who is almost as nutty about food as I am and is an amazingly talented cook. He works full-time as well so, between us, there isn't much time during the work week to cook with passion and abandon or to eat out for that matter. We need to put a nutritious and enticing meal on the table for our two girls (both under 6 years old) every night and come up with healthy options for our oldest daughter's school lunch everyday (have you seen the food they serve kids in public schools???). We have to balance our love for fiery foods with our daughters' more tame palates. I believe it's so important what we put into our bodies and especially important what we put into our young children's bodies. And I want my girls to develop an appreciation for healthy and good food and a sense of adventure about trying new and different cuisines.

So, what's this blog about? There are thousands of good food blogs out there and I am not going to be winning any "Bloggie" awards. What I want to do is chronicle my family's food journey. I will talk about our struggles to maintain balance in how we eat at home and how we shop at the market. I will talk about the wonderful things we eat when we venture out to restaurants in our amazing food city of Houston and on our travels. I will share recipes from our personal repertoire and our vast cookbook collection (rivals the collection in your local Barnes & Noble, I think!) and will highlight some of the amazing food writing and recipes in the webosphere. I'll share school lunch menu ideas and ideas for kids' snacks. There will be cookbook reviews, discussions on food TV shows (you will likely learn all about my Top Chef obsession) and dish about happenings in the celebrity chef world. I'll share with you my struggle to eliminate the stubborn post-baby bulge without going on any crazy diets. Occasionally I may share something that I think you might find interesting that has nothing to do with food.

I promise to try and post something new every week. I hope you will stop in now and then to visit and read my food ramblings. And if you do visit and decide to read a post or two, leave a comment so I know someone out there is reading! :)