About

Posted on April 17, 2009

Hi! I’m Heather, and I like to cook. I turned 30 this year, and the above picture is my general feeling on that. Wanna know more?

I’m a Southern girl at heart and by accent, although the latter unfortunately has faded somewhat. I grew up in Eastern North Carolina, where the barbecue sauce smells like vinegar because that’s what barbecue sauce is supposed to smell like. Going ‘home’ means eating a hella lotta fried chicken, cornbread, pulled pork & hushpuppies. Sweet tea to chase it all down? You betcha.

After high school, I followed my destiny as put forth by my dad, and became a Wolfpack. I got a cat, and various roommates. College was alright, but nothing extraordinary – your typical binge-drinking, waiting tables (and sucking at it), and eating pizza. Lots of pizza. At one point, I wanted to get away, and get away I did. I went to Italy. I cooked rabbit, ate pints of gelato, drank loads of wine, and met my very own Italian (or not) Stallion, the shrimp to my grits, the butter to my bread – though I didn’t realize he was anything more than a good friend until months later. We got hitched a few years later, and that was that.

Eventually, I decided it was career time, and so to grad school I went. And since I like the “go big or go home” idea, we moved to Chicago, where the hot dogs come with mustard and the pizzas come in cake pans. Those years were 2 of my very favorites. And thanks to Timmy O’Tooles, the road to becoming a genetic counselor was paved with pint glasses.

Four years later, here I am. Still crazy in love, still livin’ in the Big City, and still with my cat + 1. Talkin’ about genetics and cancer during the day, rambling on here about all this food I cook at night (well, and sometimes during the day, too..).

At some point I decided I needed one more bout of school, and last year I completed a year long culinary school certificate program at Kendall College that involved, on average, 12 hours of class a week. It was definitely time-consuming and challenging, but oh-so-fun. I loved playing in the big kitchens, but it didn’t beat being at home and cooking for and with the people I love. What will I do with it? Oh I don’t know – I’d love to be a part-time personal chef or food writer (and dream of owning a B&B somewhere, like Napa), but who knows…

Culinary School

I’d also be happy as a career traveler – sounds fun, eh? Long weekends are what dreams are made of, and vacation is indescribable at best. Occasionally, I’ll find myself raving about a recent trip on here, but generally that includes some mealtime discussion as well, as all things in life seem to revolve around food, and why not?!

Artesa Winery - Napa Valley

I hope I haven’t bored you to tears. But hey, it’s my blog right? So read on if you will, and I hope you do. This blog is me in a big, fat nutshell, and sometimes I say a lot, sometimes just a little.

Cameras? Well, nothing fancy, as my pictures show – I either use my iPhone or more commonly, my Sony Cybershot that’s 2 years old my favorite Hubs recently hooked me up with a fancy new digital SLR (Pentax K-x) that I’m still learning how to use. I hope to upgrade one day. Every so often I’ll still break out the i-phone instead of the big daddy, because I hate being that person in the restaurant with the honkin’ camera.

Recipes? They aren’t all original, that’s for sure. I read too many food magazines and food blogs to not use those recipes, so I cook from recipes as ideas and adjust as I go – and I give credit where credit’s due. Whenever possible, I cook what’s in season, and try to shop local and organic. But sometimes, a girl wants asparagus in the winter and butternut squash in the summer, and every so often I cave in, too. Don’t judge.

Questions? Comments? Leave it below or email me at hhwetzel [at] gmail [dot] com.

Want to keep up with my kitchen productions and other adventures? You’ve got options! Sign up for the “post email” option on the main page, and I’ll email you every time I post, which is usually twice a week. You can also follow me on twitter or subscribe to the RSS feed. See? Options. Options are good. Pick one, or pick ‘em all.

Happy Cookin’ Folks!