Cooking Chemist

Well, I’ve been talking about starting a blog for quite some time now so I finally did it (with much help from my blog-savvy husband!)  Please bear with me as I start on this new adventure and feel free to leave comments, forward to your friends and make suggestions for anything you would like to see on the Cooking Chemist.

I’ve really fallen in love with cooking over the past couple of years and have gotten positive feedback from my friends and family so I thought I’d share some of my “secrets” with the rest of the virtual world.  Here are some of my main sources of inspiration for starting this blog:

• Food Network - seriously good TV for foodies.  I’ve learned so much from my favorite TV chefs!  Many of the recipes I’ll be sharing with you are inspired by things I have seen or read courtesy of the Food Network.
• Cooking Light - I subscribed to Cooking Light for many years and really learned some great tips for making healthy eating choices without sacrificing flavor.  Eating healthy is important to me (though I do have a weakness for all things dairy – particularly cheese and ice cream).
• Chicago – I live in such a great city with so many sources of culinary inspiration.  I could spend countless days researching, reviewing and eating at all of the great restaurants, ethnic grocers, gourmet grocers, farmers markets, wine and cheese shops (well, you get the idea) but that is not really the point of this blog.  However, many of my favorite dishes are inspired by things I have eaten at one of the aforementioned venues and if something really blows my mind I will certainly pass it along to you.
• Science – This may seem to be a bit of a stretch for some of you but cooking is really all about science!  I have a degree in Chemistry and formulated for many years at a major beauty product company.  Much of what I learned in the lab really does apply to the kitchen.  In fact, I kind of like to think of my kitchen as my laboratory.  I mean, think about it, you run experiments all the time in the kitchen (some go well, some not so much).  Cooking is about understanding the ingredients and how they interact with each other much like formulating a shampoo or body lotion.  I hope to bring a little of the science behind some of my recipes when I think it might be helpful.
• Me – I think I bring my own special “flair” to what I make.  In fact, everybody brings their own special touch to cooking.  That is what makes it so great – you & I could each make the same exact recipe but they might turn out a little bit different because of our unique take on it.  Cooking is intimate and personal.  You engage all of your senses.  Bringing somebody a dish you made is so much more personal than a gift card you picked up at the mall (okay – well maybe only if you are a good cook!)
• Beauty Products – you may have picked up on another passion of mine which are beauty products (I LOVE Sephora).  I previously mentioned that I worked in the lab at a major beauty care company working on developing new shampoos, lotions, body washes, creams, etc.  I was also responsible for the fragrances that went inside most of those products.  You may think the beauty industry doesn’t really have anything in common with the food industry but think again.  Most of the companies that make your favorite perfumes (i.e. – Gucci, Clinique, Chanel) also make some of your favorite flavors (i.e. – citrus flavor in liquors, mint flavor in toothpaste).  The beauty and food industries inspire each other all the time!  Do you remember when pomegranate became huge in the supermarket – all of the sudden pomegranate juice was everywhere?  Then, a few months later, pomegranate started popping up in candles, home frangrances, body washes and lotions.  Well, this is just one of many examples of the interaction between these two industries (though I haven’t seen bacon flavored shampoo yet but you never know!)  I hope to pass along some of trends I’m seeing in these industries and how they may inspire one another and ultimately how they will inspire you in the kitchen.

Above all, I’m doing this because I’m excited about sharing some of the things I’ve learned and some of the mistakes I’ve made.  My main objective is to have fun and pass along simple and yummy recipes that will hopefully make you (and those you prepare them for) smile.

Tags: about, beauty products, food network, inspiration