The Very Beginning

There’s an inordinate amount of pressure (most likely self-imposed) on setting your blog out into the world.

And in particular, that particular kind of pressure that comes from deciding what your first post should be.

Of course there are the welcomes (welcome!) and the promise of great stories, recipes and food tales to come (oh you better believe it!).

But where do you really begin when there’s just so much to say?

So in the spirit of beginnings (and the preservation of sanity), I decided what better way to start than at the beginning, the very beginning, when I first fell in love…

The Brownie

It was over ten years ago now, but I remember that first encounter well. I fell — hard. Yep, I tripped over like the giddy young girl I was and fell head over heels in love.

While I’d eaten many a brownie prior to this (what child born a sweet tooth wouldn’t have), I had never made the dear thing myself. In fact, this brownie happened to be the first thing I ever baked on my own two feet. No packet mix training wheels, no more sous chef/bowl licker/critic — just me and my recipe. It was, as they say, the beginning of a beautiful relationship.

Kindly chosen by mother dearest for its simplicity and fool proof character, the brownie, she thought, was an easy entry into the exacting and often unforgiving world of baking, a trait that scares many a beginner away. But boy did it work its charm on me.

Mesmerized by swirls of viscous chocolate — first coffee black, next jet brown and butter yellow, ending with a striking brunette — I observed fascinated. By the light and warmth of the oven I waited, anxious and attentive, for my brownies to be ready. Like a scientist over test tubes and beakers, I watched as it bubbled, steamed and grew; changing into something else new and exciting, but true to the characteristics of its original parts. I thought to myself “this is it!”

I was hooked.

Since then, I have been consumed by all things sifted, sweet and oven kissed. But while my baking adventures have taken me to the distant worlds of tortes, tarts, terrines and beyond, my heart has always stayed true to the brownie. Perhaps because it was my first love, the one you can never give up. Or maybe because it’s just like a good piece of crunchy toast and melted butter — simple and satisfying. Oh and that taste, that inimitable, unforgettable taste…

Oh yeah, I was hooked.