Staring From Scratch

Over the past year I have been slowly teaching myself to cook from scratch. So far the progress has been minimal, but fun. The motivation first came from reading articles on eating locally and the Slow Food movement. Then I started eyeing Pollan and Kingsolver's books at Title Wave. Then I actually picked them up and read them. Thinking eventually led to action and I signed up for a CSA, frequented the farmer's market, and started taking a closer look at the contents in my shopping cart. I began picking up containers in the grocery store and wondering how they came to be. I started counting and studying ingredients and then going home to the Joy of Cooking to compare. As my body started responding positively to these small changes to my eating habits, my desire to learn more has continued to increase. 

So far my attempts have been modest and simple. Pesto and pasta for example. Pesto has 5 ingredients and takes about 5 minutes to make. Fresh pasta has 3 ingredients. It takes a while to make but most of that time is spent waiting for the pasta to dry and can be spent on other noble pursuits, like napping. When the pasta is finally dry and cooked, add some shredded parmesan to the top and - yummy! But see, the cheese... Not so simple. Therefore, store bought. And that is where the you come in my fellow food loving friends. 

I propose a food co-op of sorts. A group where planting, cooking, baking, and storing skills are shared with each other or learned together. And where the results are often shared and/or eaten together as well :) 

I am well aware that my recently found desire to grow, gather and hunt (by hunt I mean fish) follows a growing trend in our country. A trend I am very happy about and would like to follow with the enthusiasm that I had for French rolled jean cuffs in 6th grade. And while I enjoy a peaceful night of solitary cooking now and then, I really want to grow, gather, hunt, cook, bake, and eat/drink with friends. 

My thoughts so far include gatherings where skills can be shared by those who have them with those who don't; gatherings where new skills are learned together; ethnic food nights where a region is chosen, menu is created, ingredients gathered, then cooked together and, of course, eaten together; fishing trips and berry picking trips could also be regular activities when in season. 

And by skills I mean complicated (to me anyway) sounding activities like canning vegetables, smoking salmon, canning salmon, making jams and jellies, making cheese... Oh, and yeast scares me even though I really want to learn how to make bread. Quite the dilemma that one is.  

I'm new to blogging, but I hope this will be a way to organize gatherings, share recipes and tips, create links to other cooking sites and recommend books. I will try to figure out how to make it so that as we form our little co-op members can add posts. 

Happy eating and hope to see you soon :)