For the Love of Cooking

Cooking did not always come natural for me. I learned to cook from my Grandmother, Mother, and Great-Grandmother, but that didn't mean I loved doing it. Cooking dinner every night came out of necessity to feed our growing family. Simple, right? Well, it isn't so simple for an A-type personality who strives to achieve perfection. I begrudging made dinner every night and it was pretty much the same dinners in a constant rotation. For some reason, I thought that a love for cooking should come as natural as my unconditional love for my children. Well, let's just say that I came to instantly love my little babies, but cooking was an on-going love/hate struggle for many years, until I decided to make a change...

My true love is baking. My sweet tooth always gets the better of me. There's something magical and comforting about delicately drizzled chocolate over a piece of homemade cheesecake, or a moist cupcake with buttercream frosting so smooth that it melts in your mouth. For some reason it was hard for me to appreciate the art of cooking as much as I loved baking.

Something changed after baby #2, after so many years of assuming that cooking was just not my forte. I realized that it was my own fault that I was not enjoying this art. I had never learned to love the act of cooking. Instead of understanding why I was cooking, I was making it a sterile habit. My change of heart happened one night after I tried a few new recipes from a magazine I had saved months before, but didn't want to try and fail (a bad trait of my choleric temperament). The entire process of making the dinner was actually relaxing, something I would've never imagine. My husband truly enjoyed the meal and continued to compliment me throughout the night and my low self-esteem in regards to cooking was began to disappear.

I enjoy being a stay at home my with my little ones. I even enjoy doing the daily chores around the house - it's an act of devotion that helps our family unit remain organized, so there was no reason for me not to enjoy making breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Just as I nursed all my babies, and did it as an act of love for them, so I should view cooking. It was my own fault if I lived the rest of my life being only a mediocre cook.

By no means have I become an award winning chef, but I love the challenge of trying new recipes, even if they don't always turn out perfect, at least my husband is a good sport. And I do have plenty of days when I am just not in the mood to cook, so I choose something easier and remind myself that I am doing this for the love of my family and that I am very blessed to have such a beautiful family.


"Find something you're passionate about and keep tremendously interested in it." ~ Julia Child


My favorite 30 minute roll recipe

Here is the original recipe, I just tweaked it a bit. 

1 egg
1/3 cup of olive oil
1 c 4 tbsp of warm water

2 tbsp of active dry yeast
3 1/2 cup flour
1/4 cup sugar

Heat oven 400 degrees and move rack to the middle of oven

Combine water, oil, and yeast in mixer bowl. Let sit until the yeast bubbles (about 15 minutes).

Use a bread hook for the mixer and slowly add the egg, flour, sugar, and salt. Mix for about 2 minutes until smooth. 

Roll into balls and place in pan, but leave several inches between each roll so they can rise before being placed into the oven. Let them rest for 12 minutes. Depending on the size of the balls, bake for 10-15 minutes until golden brown. Enjoy! 

30 Minute Rolls

Make Me Smile, Please!

Things that make me smile! What makes you smile?

Beautiful jewelry, made with love!

Dapper babies!

Spring in Paris!

Red - Bows - Heels: BEST COMBO EVER!

Julia Child, anything Julia!

Strawberries and Chocolate! Yummy!

White Christmas, this part where Bing and Danny start cracking up!

Julia Child: a Cheerful, Charismatic, and Charming Woman.

Julia Child a Cheerful, Charismatic, and Charming Woman.  

Everyone needs a bit of Julia Child in their life!

Credit: Pinterest

How to Gracefully Ignore: A.G.I.

Written By: Va Va Voom (Katrina)

The ability to gracefully ignore someone!

Is it possible?

Me oh my, let's recall those situations where we absolutely can't tolerate the presence of someone!  Whether that intolerance is a result of their past actions, annoying comments or their sheer selfishness, we can't just make them disappear, unless you know someone in the mob, hahaha!  But seriously, those irritating people are a way of life these days.  So the question is, how do we handle them?  Do you let get them get the best of us, do we act rude in return, do we spread gossip, or do we get even?  No to all of the above. 

You develop what we call  AGI.  What is AGI, the Art of Gracefully Ignoring, and it works wonders.  We human are always curious by nature, right?  So let us give an example of how AGI works.  Two friends had been friends for many years until one friend found out that the other has been spreading nasty untrue rumors about her.  So the friend confronts the other about the rumors, unfortunately it does not solve anything. 

That's where AGI fits in perfectly.  Those women still share mutual friends and have to be around each often.  Rather than acting like you are in high school and trying to get every other friend on your side, take the high road!  Ignore her gracefully, be civil and cordial  but you don't have to go out of your way to be warm and inviting, after all you tried to resolve her mistakes and she refused to budge.  The great thing about AGI is that you can do no wrong.  Have you ever heard an adult say, "she's ignoring me,"and goes to pout in the corner.  Are adults regressing back into childhood?

What people now need to realize is that you cannot treat people unkindly and expect no consequences.  AGI is the perfect solution to those unruly and uncharitable people!

The Art of Gracefully Ignorance is something Coco Chanel definitely had in her repertoire of talents, as does every successful women that experiences jealousy while climbing to the top.  

A few successful women who probably experienced some level of jealous.  How did they handle it? 

~ Coco Chanel ~

"The most courageous act is still to think for yourself." ~Chanel 

~ Duchess of Cambridge ~

"The jealous are troublesome to others, but a torment to themselves" ~William Penn

~ Julia Child ~

"A competent and self-confident person is incapable of jealousy in anything.  Jealousy is invariably a symptom of neurotic insecurity." ~Robert A. Heinlein

Photo: www.pickledplum.net

~ Reese Witherspoon ~

"The venom clamors of a jealous woman poison more deadly than a mad dog's tooth." ~Shakespeare

Photo: www.go4celebrity.com

~ Heather Thomson of www.yummielife.com ~

"To cure jealousy is to see it for what it is, a dissatisfaction with self." ~Joan Didion