This is me! Heating up coconut milk for some hot chocolate… I believe there were chocolate covered bacon stir sticks…

Hello Internet!

Glad you could join me. I’ve decided that in order to attempt to curb my compulsive Jane Austen and Lord of the Rings watching I need to take up a hobby. As I have little to no hand eye coordination things such as knitting or painting are not an option. I briefly entertained the idea of scrapbooking, and though I’m sure it’s a great hobby, I fear if I take it up I may become an old maid with many, many scrapbooks about my cats. So, no, scrapbooking is also out. I thought I might like to make jewelry, but as a full time student I don’t really have the cash flow to fund that sort of hobby indefinitely.

Finally, I thought “well what can I do for free that will prevent me from eating a bagful of cookies while sobbing away as Emma realizes that she does indeed love Mr. Knightley?” and it hit me! I can become an internet sensation and share my musings with the World Wide Web! And thus, here I am. Making my first foray into the interwebs. At first I thought I could write a really deep and inspiring blog about conscious living, meditation, and healthy lifestyles. Then I realized that’s not really my style. So you, dear readers, get to help me as I define said style by telling me what you enjoy (yay!) and what you think sucks (boo) as we go along. It will be a great relationship where we both help each other grow and I don’t come to resent you and your constant nit picking at all… I promise.

Hi this is me! Just waiting several hours to meet one George R.R. Martin, NBD.

I suppose I should introduce myself. My name is Caitlin and I’m studying to be a holistic nutritionist and a culinary educator. Food is my passion and I love everything about it, from the prep work, to the cooking, to the delicious end product. This blog will likely contain a fair amount of my recipes, adventures, and misadventures in the kitchen. You can all come along as I stumble my way towards healthifying (yup, it’s a word, trust me!) some old classics and creating cookies that I can feel less guilty about compulsively eating as I watch silly movies. I’ll also share some of my timesaving kitchen tips and tricks, because lets face it, we don’t all have hours to spend preparing healthy meals. And of course there will be posts about various aspects of health and nutrition as we go along, but I promise not to make them too serious or boring. I also have a pretty adorable apron that I would like to share with the world, so if I ever figure out how to edit videos, you may get to see me prepare some tasty treats in the flesh, you lucky things you.

However, I’m not a one trick pony. I also love reading. Having dedicated 7 years of my life towards becoming an English professor only to abandon that dream last fall when I realized that A. I didn’t want to spend the rest of my life alone in an office researching the significance of dreams in Kiss of the Fur Queen and B. there wasn’t really much of a market for English professors so I would likely end up unemployed after 11 or 12 years of school.  Neither one of these prospects gave me a tingly feeling so away I went in search of a new direction. My love of books, however, remains unchanged. So you’ll likely get a smattering of posts about books I’m reading and my opinions on said books. But don’t worry. I promise I won’t bore you with essays and treatises on the many qualities of William Faulkner, as I’m more George R.R. Martin than classic Americana. So yeah, there’ll be some book learnin’ here too. Aren’t you all in for a treat!

Here I am just shortly after ditching the processed food and starting to cook from scratch. This was taken the night of my very first dinner party! I may have served chocolate covered bacon 😉

As the Martin and LOTR references may suggest, I have a soft spot for fantasy. And as a captive audience, you will get to hear all my exciting theories about A Song of Ice and Fire and how I feel the TV series Game of Thrones holds up to the books. I just reread the series for the second time and am planning on rewatching seasons 1 and 2 of Game of Thrones so smattered in amongst the book learning, cooking, and nutrition my love of nerdly tv will also shine through. However, I don’t discriminate and only watch fantasy, so if you’re interested we can talk shop about other shows too. Anyone out there watch The Real Housewives of Vancouver? It’s the only one of the housewives series I watched, but as you will soon learn, I LOVE bad TV and really love talking about it. So there you go, a little something for everyone I think.

I may be a little too excited here. But the hours of waiting paid off!

I also get really excited about random things and like to experiment with them. For example I bought my first SCOBY the other day to brew my own kombucha. Hold on, I can hear you saying, those aren’t real words! Is she having a stroke? I can assure you those two things do actually exist and I think my first non-introductory blog post will be about the adventure I had starting my very first fermentation. Sounds yummy, no? I also started an herb garden and a worm compost in my apartment. So yeah, if you come along for my ride I promise to always be slightly ridiculous, offer up some healthy lifestyle and eating tips which I’ll steal straight from class, and share all my odd new adventures with you. Sit down, grab a cup of tea and prepare to be… AMAZED!

Haha just kidding. But seriously, feel free to come back. I do so enjoy having company.

PS: Here’s a sneak peek at what a SCOBY and kombucha brew look like.

This is my kombucha baby! More on him tomorrow.