A proper introduction

Ok, I promised a proper introduction, so here goes . . . 

My name is Corry, and I'm a 26 year old college student who has been deprived from good food for most of her life.  I live in a rural area in northern Illinois.  In other words, I live in Blandland.  

It doesn't help matters that, as a child, I was *the* pickiest eater on earth.  That carried through, to some extent, into my adult life.  . . . until about three years ago, that is.  Three years ago, I met my best friend, Joe.  Joe insisted I had to try sushi at least once in my life.  

Sushi?  That's fishbait! Why would I try that!? 

Just once, he said . . . from a *good* sushi restaurant.  Finally, I caved, and the next time I flew out to visit him, we went to Morimoto.  It was phenomenal! I ordered the Ishi Yaki Buri Bop as my entree, and had Joe order my sushi, since I didn't have the first clue what was what.  

I craved sushi for months after I got home.  That experience opened up a whole new world to me.  If fish bait could be THAT good, I bet there is all kinds of gross lookin' stuff out there that's actually pretty good!  Bit by bit on my visits out to the east coast, Joe introduced me to more and more.  Hummus.  Thai food.  Indian food.  Crab legs (yes, I'd never had crab legs).  My visits started to become more and more centered around food.  Now, there is almost nothing I won't try at least once.  We make it a point to seek out new things each time we're together.  We discovered Ethiopian food this past Easter Sunday.  Afghan food before that.  We even have our next food adventure planned out: French food and escargot! I'm so excited about it, I giggle like a schoolgirl when I think about it. 

I don't do a lot of cooking at home these days, but I hope to make it a priority in the coming months.  If there aren't any decent restaurants around here for me to try new things, I'll try them at home! 

So, in short, this blog is going to be about my adventures in food.  Look forward to restaurant reviews, rants about cravings, and the occasional recipe.  Oh, and photos.  I love to take pictures of my food. :P 

Need to borrow a couple of dozen cups of sugar?

I think I'll start this blog off by demonstrating where the 'clueless' in 'The Clueless Gourmet' comes from.  

I rarely bake.  The oven in my apartment cooks majorly unevenly, and I gave up on trying long ago.  Only once in a while does something come out as passable, so I avoid wasting my time and money whenever possible.  

However, occasionally there comes a time when I can't avoid it.  I'm forced to bake and hope for the best.  This is one such time.  I have to participate in a bakesale on Tuesday.  Being the scatterbrained busy-bee that I am, I didn't think to check what ingredients I already had for the recipes I plan to make.  The grocery store isn't nearby, so I can't just come home and see what I'm out of and go back and get it.  I had to get it all before I came home last night.  

As I was going down my list of ingredients in the grocery store last night, I found that the only one I was sure I had at home was butter.  It's been so long since I've baked, I didn't have any clue if I even had enough sugar! 

So I bought some.  And some flour.  And some baking powder.  Baking soda.  Brown sugar.  Shortening. And a slew of other ingredients.  

I get home and begin to put it away and find that I already had . . . 

. . . sugar.  Flour.  Baking powder.  Baking Soda.  Brown sugar.  Some of them I had multiple packages of that had never been opened.  

Ok, it's obviously time to clean out the cupboards!  In doing so, I found multiples of other things I'd bought previously, not knowing I'd already had them.  Cocoa powder.  Honey.  Hershey's Syrup.  Croutons.  Italian seasoned bread crumbs.  Various spices.  More pasta than I know what to do with.  

I guess I should get to cooking and baking, eh? 

I'll write a proper introduction later.  For now . . . Hi, my name is Corry, and I'm clueless!