You can't feel the heat unless you hold your hand over the flame

I am not one to take any sort of pleasure in using lofty words to describe myself so, I'll keep this simple.  I am passionate about my faith, my family and friends and food, but more specifically, cooking.   My personality is reflected in everything I cook.  My tendency to have a more pragmatic outlook often times leads me to become my biggest critic.  I don't discriminate against any food, just against lazy food.  If its not from the heart of the person making it, it's just not worth eating it, and impossible to truly enjoy it.  For me, cooking is intimate, it allows me to share a piece of myself with those I choose to serve.    The way I see it, when it comes to serious home cooks, there are two kinds; there are those who cook to impress the the people around them and there are those who cook because they love cooking.  They love the process, the ritual, the constant search for the best ingredients, but above all, they love the people for whom they are serving.  In my kitchen, a compliment is nothing more than a pleasant side-effect.   More recently, I've started an experiment to see if what the national food companies say or portray is actually true.  Is it impossible to make great food that people love without some soulless, prepackaged food from a grocery store?  Well, my opinion is a resounding  NO.  The following is a record of my experiment.  Stay tuned