I was born on a bright snowy day in June, in a log cabin that I helped my father build. After 36 hours in labor with my giant head and shoulders, my mother was tired, but I was hungry.  I have pretty much stayed that way ever since.

My family tells stories about me only in relation to food and how much I could eat at one sitting. Needless to say, I grew to be a rather LARGE fellow so to speak. I had a driving need for foods of ALL varieties.  Food was a comfort, food was my friend. I’ve probably eaten more foods in different varieties than most people ever will…and once I found the things that satisfied the driving need for food, I learned to make or buy them…and then stuck to them and ate them in ever-increasing numbers.

Until it became a problem. Now…for the last year or so I’ve been working on eating better so I don’t die of a massive coronary before I’m 50. I said “better”, not perfect…if you’re looking for someone to yell at you about that double cheeseburger you like to eat…this isn’t a blog about that. It’s actually more about something I didn’t discover until last year…namely that I can eat most anything I want…and that some of the stuff I had been avoiding, was GOOD if you actually cook it right. I can make a better double cheeseburger than you…that’s better for you than anything you can buy at ANY fast food restaurant. Not only that but I found out I could eat the favorite foods…AND the good foods…and actually make myself healthier/lose weight by accident. In other words…I’ve spent the last year failing upwards.

So this is for the guys like me (or the girls if you are one of those) that despite knowing how to cook some food…never understood what all those extra ingredients you saw Emeril Lagasse or Bobby Flay put into dishes were for…and those who thought that if you ate healthier you had to give up your favorite foods.  YOU DON’T.

I’ve discovered that a man CAN cook. Simply, deliciously…and surprisingly well. And YOU can too.