New Blog

Ok, so I haven't really blogged in awhile... I used to have a LiveJournal which was more about my personal/life kind of stuff... I'm aiming for this blog to be an offshoot/continuation of my former cooking site (http://www.thistasteslikecardboard.com/tiana/ ). Unfortunately, my friend Tiana (who ran the site with me) and I can no longer upload pictures due to problems with our previous website, which is unfortunate because it was working very well for awhile. There were also some formatting problems with the site. So, now I am kind of branching out, "flying solo" so to speak, in this whole idea of publicizing my delicious new culinary creations.

Now, you are probably wondering, who the heck is this girl and why does she think so highly of her cooking/baking ability?

Well, a little background info might help:

My name is Ashley, and I am seventeen years old (a junior in High school).
I began helping my grandmother with simple food prep tasks as soon as I could walk and talk, such as measuring flour or cutting out cookies. When I was in my "tween" years I developed a great and sudden interest in independant cooking and baking, and within a year or two was making entire dinners for my family, and baking from-scratch goodies for snacks and bake sales.

When I was 15 years old, my mother's friend nominated me for my local paper's Cook of the Week. A full-page article was published of me and a few of my signature creations (Thai Seafood Yum, Raspberry Cheesecake Bars, Hummus Dip & Pita Chips, and Chocolate Chunk Bread Puddings.)

At this time, in late June 2006, I was already well on my way to documenting my recipe successes in a large three-ring binder. The Binder has since become two- one for Baking, one for Cooking. Each has well over 200 recipes, probably pushing 300 by now (Baking is slightly larger, with sections for Desserts, Cookies, Breads, Snacks& Beverages. Cooking has sections for Side Dishes, Soups/Salads and Main Dishes.)

I met Tiana in August 2006, she contacted me via e-mail after she had read my article in the paper. We then began the first blog/website together. So, in addition to my ongoing project of written documentation of the recipes I had made (I would find a recipe, prepare the food, mark the recipe up with any changes/modifications I make, and type it up in a Word file on my computer) I now was taking pictures of my food and posting the nicely-typed recipes together on the website.

I know what you are thinking, a seventeen year old chef. Her signature dishes are probably Shake n Bake chicken and Cake-mix cake with Betty Crocker Frosting. Not so. My grandmother is a BIG advocate of from-scratch cooking, and although I do have my favorite "cheat ingredients: (ie Cool Whip, No Pudge Brownie mix and Jello Instant Pudding) I generally stand by that philosophy-- use "real", fresh ingredients, and your results will be better than if you used cheaper, shortcut or premade ingredients. I cook all kinds of cuisine, from Asian to Italian to German to Mexican. I can also whip up a flurry of sugary confections from homemade "Cadbury-style" cream eggs to decadent ganache-filled chocolate cake to the simple yet oft-overlooked from-scratch apple pie with HOMEMADE pastry crust. And my most recently developed skill is in breadbaking- yeast doughs from simple weeknight Italian bread to buttery holiday rolls, and of course quickbreads like banana bread and buttermilk biscuits.

Further cooking experience:
As I mentioned before, I have been cooking meals for my family since I was about 12 or 13 years old... I am now seventeen so that is nearly five years. I have taken kids' basic cooking classes, at summer camps, etc. and this past summer even went to the Culinary Institute of America for a four-day camp, similar to the chef training I would recieve if I went to school there (my new post-grad dream :) Of course thats aiming a little high, but hey, dreaming big is never a bad thing ;)

Whew. Thats a mouthful (or a handful, I guess- haha). So... I will begin entering any recipes I make from here-on out. If I have time tomorrow I will probably enter in the goodies I prepared over Easter break :)

All right. I need to shut my brain up now. As I mentioned before, I AM a high school student. And a three-season athlete (although in my mind its four- Cross country girls dont take summers off- they do SUMMER RUNNING!) So, I am very busy... cooking, which began in the background of my life, then branched into a hobby, and now is my form of relaxation/meditation... soon (hopefully) to become my future career in a few years :)
Although that is yet ANOTHER tangent that I am teetering on the edge of going off on... let me just say this. Fartlek workout tomorrow. Ugggggh--- Soooooo Anywho I need to rest up for yet another mentally and physically demanding day :) Goodnight all!