Happy Birthday to ME :)

(photo credit here)

Well, it's here, today is my birthday!! Jef got me a WONDERFUL present, Tom Colicchio's Think Like a Chef (it's one of two parts, the other part is in transit but apparently somehow correlates to this gift).

What I already love about this "cookbook" is its not just a list of recipes, but instead teaches you the process of how to make things delicious. When I was first starting to get into cooking, I would often follow a recipe verbatim and it would turn out good. However, if I tried any sort of variation on the dish that is where I would run into trouble (mostly if I tried to switch proteins). It's here that I understood in order to make a dish successful you have to understand how to cook each component perfectly.

Much like Julie and Julia, I have decided that I am going to cook through Tom's entire cookbook. Renee and Tom doesn't have quite the same ring so I am still working on a name (Lessons from the Top (?)), but I will say this, I can't remember the last time I was so excited to embark on a project!! I will be starting in about two weeks when I am moved into my new apartment and have my kitchen set up. So be looking for posts then!

Thanks to everyone who has continued to read my little ole blog :) This will be 180th post! Can you believe it?!