The Beginning of a Beautiful Food Blog

A few weeks ago, during one of our three-hour long phone chats, my sister suggested that we write a food blog together. I had been crying for most of the conversation because I feel that my life is in shambles. I live with my parents, I'm kind of fat, I'm single, and even though I have a good job as a nurse, I'm stressed out a lot, and basically I just feel kind of lost. I feel like I'm at a crossroads. Or maybe I'm more like at the bottom of a mountain that I have to climb up, or poised to cross one of those rickety old-timey bridges that connect one incredibly steep cliff to another incredibly steep cliff. Basically, I'm at a turning point. Or maybe I'm like a year away from a turning point. But I know something needs to change, so when Gina mentioned writing a food blog together, I threw a book at the wall and loudly exclaimed, "Hell yes!!" Ok, ok. I actually cried for another half an hour and then said, "Maybe...oh God, I don't know." But after thinking about it for a while, I decided that yes, a food blog is a good thing for me to throw myself into, if only because it gives me a great excuse to eat a shit-ton of delicious food.

About a week later, Gina and I met up to discuss the blog. We needed to go over design elements, theme, etc. Gina had suggested that we meet at B.D.'s Mongolian Barbeque because they have free wi-fi. For those of you who may not know, Mongolian BBQ is a chain restaurant in our part of the country that requires patrons to shove as many uncooked meats and vegetables as possible into a small bowl and then take it up to a very large circular grill, where a couple of semi-hip looking guys (some with dreadlocks!) cook it and then hand your creation back to you. You then take it back to your table, where while you were gone your server magically deposited a little canister of tortillas and a squat bowl of rice. I kind of hate Mongolian BBQ. Gina does too. What I hate about it is that my creations always taste the same, maybe because I always choose the same items (sausage, chicken, shrimp, pea pods, noodles and peanut sauce)...but maybe because it's just a bad restaurant. Also, I think the whole part where you stand and wait for the guys to cook your food is awkward. I always wonder, what are they thinking about me? Do they think I'm good looking? Are they laughing at me on the inside because I filled my sauce cup too full? Should I have only filled it half full? Should I have chosen a sauce that makes me seem more mysterious? What do they think of my sausage/chicken/shrimp combo? Does it make them think I'm from out of town? Do they think I was raised on the bayou? Or maybe they just think I like savory meats and shellfish? Should I have chosen beef so they would think I'm adventurous, like the kind of girl who would rock climb and white water raft? It's too much pressure having to worry about the grill guys and what they're thinking about. And it's not like you're just standing up there for a minute or two--it takes the guys a while to cook the food, maybe because they want to make sure the meats are fully cooked so that no one gets food poisoning...but maybe because Mongolian BBQ is just a bad restaurant.

After we got done eating, I told Gina that it was pointless for us to have gone to Mongolian BBQ to eat in the first place because I was uncomfortable using the wi-fi there (no one else had a laptop! It'd be like using your laptop at Chili's--weird). So we decided to walk to a nearby super-hip independent coffee shop called Bean and Leaf. When we got there, I breathed a huge sigh of relief because many of the artsy-looking patrons were using laptops. The guy behind the counter was even more hip and jerky-looking than one of the grill guys at Mongolian. He was kind of short, with curly hair and a fitted t-shirt that had some snarky saying on it that I forgot to read. I knew he was judging me. I could tell that he could tell just by looking at me that sometimes I throw away my empty bottles of pop instead of recycling. But that's ok because he could tell that I could tell just by looking at him that sometimes he smokes in bed. Because Gina was with me, I had more confidence than usual and I wanted to show off, so I asked to see the tea list. Actually, I think Gina may have told him I wanted to see the tea list. But the point is, I looked at the tea list rather than just ordering some generic thing off the main menu. Looking at the tea list, I knew I was inviting him to talk to me about the various specialty teas they carry and possibly up-sell me. I knowingly and willingly ventured into very dangerous territory under the guise of being an easy-going tea-lover who just wanted to drink the most delicious drink possible on a Wednesday night. We all know that if I truly wanted to drink the most delicious drink possible, I should've gone to Leo's Coney Island and gotten a milkshake, but hey, progress is progress. I think I wound up with peppermint tea and Gina got jasmine pearls.

We then spent a glorious, if somewhat stress-filled, night agonizing over fonts and other design elements for our new blogger blog--just like they did in pioneer times! We didn't get it all figured out that night, but I did give Gina (and myself) an assignment for the first blog post. I said, "Write about why you wanted to start this food blog." For me, there is no one reason I wanted to be an author on Stock Therapy. I've always had a love/hate relationship with food. I love it because it's delicious, but I hate it because it makes me fat. I want to explore my relationship with food, I want to make peace with food, I want to learn to be a better cook, I want to write more, I want to improve my life, I want to share something with my sister. These are just a few of my reasons for getting involved in this project. I hope you'll come along on this journey with us. I promise if you do you'll feel the way you feel after finishing a great meal--full, satisfied, and a little bit ashamed of yourself.