First Post, Coast-to-Coast

Hi Everybody,

So... I started a blog today. I guess I'll tell you a little about myself and what I intend to do with this thing:

I love to cook. And I LOVE to eat. Whenever possible, I really like making things that are either extremely time-consuming (think BBQ pork, smoked 14 hours) or somewhat unusual (I've been making a lot of Hunanese food for the past year). So, my primary objective with this blog is to document some of my culinary projects, with pictures and comments. I'll try to talk a little bit about where I think it could have been improved or what about it went particularly right. I like to do a lot of experimentation, and I generally think of recipes as suggestions, not something to be strictly adhered to.

I make a lot of pork. I recently slow roasted a fresh ham, which I am especially proud of. The way I made it is typically referred to as Pernil around here (the NY/NJ Metropolitan Area), and when I say slow roasted, I don't mean I put it in for a few hours. I roasted this meat for 18 hours, actually putting it in the oven right before I went to bed and taking it out the next evening for a dinner party.

So, there it is. I want to cook awesome shit that requires the sort of care and attention that my generation is not known for (suffice to say, I sit on the cusp of Gen X and Gen Y). Then, I want to share the love that I poured into that meal with my friends and family. And now you too.

I can't promise a ton of posts, but let's just see where this thing takes us. Perhaps I'll link to other sites that seem along these lines and are pretty cool as a way to bridge the gap between foodie projects.

Adios.