Class, please open your books to page one...

After seven years of designing sewers, sewage treatment plants, and developing a 50-year plan for metro-Atlanta's sewage, I've decided to flush my consulting days, well, down the toilet. Not to say those days were wasted, I just knew I had to clean up my act. I know, I know, I could go on like this. My point is, for me, engineering has largely run its course. (At least until the bill collectors come, then it's back to calculator and stinky site visits) Now, however, I want to focus my energy on something that truly grabs my imagination…food.

I come from a long line of people who cook out of necessity and happily devour whatever is placed before them. In my parents home, ramps are sloping floors and soft peaks fill the foothills of the Rockies***. Not to mention, my maiden name is Jennie Craig. Seriously. Based on my loving, but decidedly culinary deprived, upbringing, I basically had to start at square one, with one exception. My family will try and 99.9% of the time eat anything.

At this point, I have a palate that has learned much over the years, but still has so much more to experience. I constantly read everything I can get my hands on; magazines, cookbooks, newspaper columns, blogs, and online discussion boards. My flair for research has led us down some wonderful finds everywhere from Acworth, Georgia to Paris. But, I know I have so much more to learn. Truly, I am a gastronome in training, and this is my journey…

***Ramps, by the way, are wild leeks that are like a cross between onions and garlic. Soft peaks are a formed when you beat eggs for, say, a merigue