welcome, finally!

Yay, yay, yay! As if I didn't have enough to do, I went ahead and started a food and wine blog because that's how much I love them. I want to eat them, I want to drink them, and I want to write about them. : ) If you don't follow my photography blog, here are some things to know about me other than that I am a wedding and boudoir photographer, a mother to two beautiful little girls, Ava and Stella, a partner to the most fabulous man I know, Joe, and I live in beautiful southwest Montana. Here we go - 10 things to know about my love affair with cooking. . .

1. It started a few weeks after Ava was born when my mom came out to Bozeman to meet her. She is an avid cooker herself, so together we created dishes and enjoyed them night after night for two weeks solid. To this day my favorite time of the day is when it's time to pour a glass of pinot, turn on some good acoustic music, and start the stove.

2. My favorite recipe websites are Food Network, Food.com, myrecipes.com, and Food and Wine.

3. The only food I absolutely will not touch is walnuts.

4. My favorite food is Italian. Rich, creamy pastas, meatballs, cheese, ahhhhh.

5. Despite this, I have recently changed my diet to avoid most carbs, but it lets me indulge without guilt when I do make a pasta dish the main course.

6. I am a horrible, horrible baker. I've recently tried to use wax paper instead of parchment paper in the oven, forgotten to add butter to the crumb part of apple crisp, and have never, ever been able to get homemade cookies to rise.

7. Our favorite dishes we go back to over and over again are lasagna, spaghetti and meatballs, beef stroganoff, vodka sauce with grilled chicken, chicken enchiladas, beef and chicken fajitas, and my all-time favorite meal in the whole world . . . a ribeye steak, grilled to perfection at medium-rare by Joe, and served with sauteed mushrooms, a twice-baked potato, and always red wine.

8. This week I have dedicated myself to a menu of brand new recipes I have never made (much to Joe's despair . . . this doesn't always turn out that well). This week on the menu is Chicken Tetrazzini, Turkey Soup with Stuffing Dumplings, Chinese-Style Baby Back Ribs, Linguine with Lobster and Shrimp Scampi, and a Maple and Brown Sugar Pork Tenderloin recipe I got from a fellow food-lover and friend of mine, Katie.

9. We love our red wine and recently just wrapped up a Thanksgiving visit with Joe's parents, who are serious wine lovers, almost experts it seems. They have a beautiful wine cellar and we will be turning a portion of our basement into one as well. I'll keep you posted. ;) We are hoping to start in 2012!

10. I am so, so excited to be sharing this blog with you! Stay tuned for lots of recipes, cooking stories, photos and suggestions!

Bon Appetit!