day one: the start of the challenge

im about to embark on a culinary crusade. one that will hopefully change my eating habits and who knows, may even change me. but lets not get ahead of ourselves.. first let me explain before i begin to ramble nonsensically.

i was in barnes and noble yesterday reading jon stewarts earth: the book  and aj jacobs the year of living biblically (good reads by the way) when i became distracted, as many add folks will be, by the enormous section of cookbooks dominating the nearest wall. let me explain: i love to cook. im good at it and i find it ridiculously entertaining. however, ive always wanted to be one of those people who can whip up fantastic eats with the random stuff in her kitchen. instead of following a recipe on a box, i want to follow a recipe on an old tattered notcard handed down for generations. so i promptly put down my already dog-eared novel and began to investigate. first i pulled down a girly 200 meals for under 200 calories! but after realizing that the main ingredients in mainly all the dishes were splenda, egg substitute and air, i quickly discarded. a couple more cookbooks, a couple more disappointments. then, i saw it. a heavenly sight to my eyes and growling stomach: the christmas cookbook.

for those who dont know me all that well, let me first tell you that i love christmas an abnormal amount. as soon as thanksgiving ends, im all about overweight men in costume fedexing unknown children handmade toys. the wreaths, the snow, the dead trees, the ornaments, the music, the chill, and especially the food. so when i saw those two words together; christmas and cookbook, i knew i was holding something special.

i immediately scampered back to my oversized chair and began to pore over the recipes. toasted pecans, mint chocolate cake, stuffed turkey rolls, sugar cookie christmas trees.. the list went on and on. not only that, but this little book had craft ideas too. tinsel wreaths, gingham aprons, glittery gingerbread houses.. it was like i stumbled upon a book of magic.

to make a long story longer, i went and bought the book for eleven dollars and change and ran out of the shop. i proceeded to head to my unfriendly neighborhood walmart to get my supplies for my cooking adventure and then drop them off at home.

that was yesterday.

today is the big day.

today i begin the challenge. the challenge is to make at least one meal or snack every day from scratch. im done with boxed cakes, tubed cookie dough and frozen chicken. im going to cook my way through the tasty items in this book and when im done, ill buy a new one. this is my quest for domestication. a journey that will lead me to new recipes and a knowledge of how to correctly use an icing bag without causing an explosion. my destination is fullness. my means to get there are unlimited. my documentation of this adventure will be this blog.

so watch out kitchen. youre about to get overused.