First Blog Post Ever!!

Bonjour!!

I should probably start out by explaining what I want my blog to be about. In the past several years, I have developed a passion for cooking. I've gotten a lot better, but there are definitely still some mishaps in the kitchen. I thought keeping a blog of what I'm cooking would be a good way to track my progress, and possibly provide entertainment to some. I don't know that anyone will actually ever read this blog, but you never know.

I'm a student at Auburn University, majoring in International Business. I have no idea what to do with that, but I do know that someday I will open my own French restaurant. So be on the lookout for that... probably in about 45 years when I win the lottery. In the meantime, I just attempt to cook great things on a poor, unemployed college student's budget. Not that I'm complaining about all that my wonderful parents give me. But Julia Child doesn't take these things into consideration.

So anyways, I've been pretty busy in the past week, but I have had some interesting cooking experiments. First, I made a cake for one of my roommate's birthday.. Martha Stewart's Yellow Cake with Mocha Buttercream Icing, to be exact. Which went fairly well except for the fact that I thought that coffee grinds would be a good substitution for instant espresso powder. The icing had a nice grainy texture.. but not actually so bad once it was refridgerated. The real disaster that week was when I made Sausage and Peppers Rigatoni. Now, let me just say I have never eaten crushed red pepper before. But one of my roommates last year ate it like it was candy. I probably should've taken into consideration the other gross things that she ate. So I thought that sprinkling it liberally over the sauce would be yummy. Not so. That dish has been renamed Fire Sausage and while it had potential to be delicious, I ruined it with toooo much crushed red pepper.

I was getting discouraged by this point, because I don't usually have this many problems when cooking. So the boyfriend and I cooked one night, and I had the idea to make authentic Coq au Vin. As in, I single-handedly butchered a whole chicken. And I did it well. The chicken was then marinated in shiraz and vegetables overnight. The next day I cooked the chicken with bacon in bacon grease with a wine reduction and pearl onions, shallots, and mushrooms. It was one of the top 5 things I've ever cooked, possibly ever eaten. Not to brag or anything, I was just really proud of it. John Price made loaded mashed potatoes and a delicious Butterfinger Pie for dessert, so it was definitely a healthy dinner.
I'm making gumbo tonight, so hopefully that'll turn out well, although I have been warned that it's harder than it appears. We'll see. OH! My copy of Mastering the Art of French Cooking came in today, so I'm super excited about that. In other words, get ready for some future exciting posts!