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Somehow this summer feels hotter than the last one. That statement probably isn't even true, but I can't seem to step outside without immediately regretting every piece of clothing I'm wearing, my choice in shoes, and even my choices to go outside.

By the end of this summer, S. will be leaving to study in the Netherlands for a quarter. And I'll be here, studying at the University of Washington. Three months is supposed to be only a short period of time, but no one mentions that knowing three months in advance that your life is about to be completely disrupted just leaves you living every day in dread and anxiety.

Instead, I suggested to S. that I finally start this blog. I've never been a particularly confident person in the kitchen. If anything, I have always been a certifiable disaster -- the first time I baked on my own I ended up with numerous burns on my arms and fingers and a ban from ever baking unsupervised again. The first dish my parents ever taught me was to make ramen noodles, and somehow I ended up with the noodles on the counter and boiling water all over my toes and the floor.

A part of me firmly believes, however, that baking and cooking is like a muscle that needs to be exercised, and does not necessarily need to be a natural talent. A large part of success when using recipes and when improvising is understanding the ingredients and the actual processes at work when you make food. Most of what I've learned is based on information read in cookbooks as well as the comments section of food blogs. My favorite go-to resource is smitten kitchen, mainly because Deb Perelman can be downright obsessive in her recipes, and her constant tweaking process leaves her recipes extremely detailed with enough information on what to expect to leave any person at least a little bit confident in the kitchen. I also chose to buy Baking Illustrated, a copy of Mastering the Art of French Cooking, and even a cookbook devoted solely to cakes (whose name is escaping me right now).

The rest of my knowledge of baking and cooking comes only from experience. My mom was the person that taught me first how to cook, but she was never much for recipes (everything being "just a bit" of this and "this much" of that). I took the initiative to bake the pastries for the cafe I worked for last year, and I am currently a baker at the cafe I work now (Cafe Habits and Cederberg Tea House, respectively).

So I don't exactly have any true authority here. I am currently working towards educating myself in small business and eventually culinary arts so that I might open my own cafe and restaurant in the future, but as of this moment in time, I am just as uncertain in the kitchen as you might be. I don't necessarily write recipes, although I will often choose to improvise rather than follow a recipe to the letter (and trust me, this leads to mixed results. I'll come up with a stellar cake and then the next thing I make is just a mess), and I don't necessarily cook or bake every single night.

I also wish to apologize in advance for the state of the photography for this blog. The majority of the time S. and I are so impatient to start eating we often forget to take a photo. We also happen to be the type of people that end up cooking dinner after 11 o'clock and baking at 2 AM, so the lighting is often whatever is around.

Whether or not this blog will be updated once or twice a week or every single day has yet to be decided. Summer is a wonderful time of year to begin a food blog, particularly at my house, which is full of fruits and vegetables my mother grows, but due to the fact that I have work and school and I split my time between being in Bellevue and being in Seattle, it's not always guaranteed that I can find the time to attempt any recipes. In any case, I've wanted to start a food blog for many years, and am extremely excited to finally begin.