Introduction

Greetings and welcome to Viva, Mangi, Ami (live, eat, love). I love food and even more I love to combine food so that it is delectable. I wouldn't consider myself an amateur chef, or even a home chef. I would call myself a "home cook". My mother got me started but even she will concede that I have taken on learning for myself.

I don't have fancy utensils or gadgets. I don't know how to make truly "artsy" dishes (no souffles here, at least not yet). Thus, I work with what I have, picking up tid-bits as I read and through trial-and-error.

In the kitchen, I use whole grains (wheat, rye, spelt, Kammut, oat groats) which we grind in an electric mill to make flour. I only use natural, real food; no refined sugars, no additives. Organic fruits and vegetables and Organic meats are what we eat for those categories. We use honey, maple syrup, agave syrup and Stevia for sweeteners. For the most part, all our meals, everyday are made from scratch.

My family is wonderful: they are willing to be adventurous and eat what I make. And cooking is a refining process: patience and perseverance are true kitchen virtues. I get frustrated by my cooking sometimes (don't we all?) but if I'm not in the kitchen I feel I must be because I want to cook.

So here is a humble blog to chart my edible explorations both in my own kitchen and in other's. As my mom says, "Perfection is over rated." The food won't be perfect but it will be home-made and all nutritious which can't be beat. This is the good life!

--HM