Since moving out of Seattle and buying a house on Bainbridge Island in April, I’m finding that the types of gadgets in my life have taken a dramatic shift from consumer electronics to the home improvement variety. While we rented a house for the past three years, I did very minimal handyman type stuff because I never felt particularly motivated to invest time and energy into improving someone else’s property. Now I’m constantly on the lookout for the right tools for minor home improvements. My friend Tim Carter’s site, Ask The Builder, has become a regular destination for me.
I’m also cooking more than I ever did when we lived in Seattle, which is a good thing. Growing up, I always loved helping in the kitchen both at home and at my grandparent’s house, where my grandma would tease me about being unsure if my left-handed mashed potatoes could possibly be good to eat. The bowl was generally empty by the end of the meal.
Before moving from Des Moines (the IA one, not the WA one) to Seattle, I remember having conversations with my friend Harry from Sausage Software about both of us finding the kitchen to be a great place to releive stress. Sometime after leaving Iowa, I forgot that I really love being in the kitchen. Or maybe I just got lazy because I’m married to an amazing chef and Seattle has some of the best restaurants in the country. Regardless, it’s great to be spending time in the kitchen again.
This summer I’m encouraging Wyatt to cook too, finding some fun summer recipes that keep him entertained while he’s on a break from school. He shows great enthusiasm for almost anything we try. Knowing there’s food coming at the end of the process is certainly a great motivator.
I also finally convinced Robin, my wife the chef, to work with me on starting a new food-themed site, which further provides me with an excuse to keep cooking more frequently. The result is a work in the work in progress, Daily Munch, which combines some of her great recipes with many of the simpler things I’m making at home with her much needed assistance from her chef skills when I don’t get things quite right. There are also some great contributions from Seattle food blogger Keren Brown, aka the Frantic Foodie. Ultimately I’d like to get a few more people writing about food, so that the site updates more frequently. There will be video in the future as well. In the meantime, I’m proud of what we’ve accomplished so far.
