Hello!

I *love* food. Always have: I grew up watching the Food Network, had parents who cooked real-deal Southern comfort and Texas barbecue, and I even dabbled in recipes myself on special occasions. But until pretty recently, I was content to let pre-made grocery meals and takeout dominate my dinner situation. Sure, they were quick, and they were cheap, but mostly I just didn't know I could do better myself.

This was a big cooking night.

Then almost simultaneously, two things happened: one, I visited Paris for the first time, and two, I received Thomas Keller's The French Laundry Cookbook as a gift. Now I'm part French somewhere way up in my family tree, so the Paris trip basically confirmed my genetic pre-disposition for butter, carbs, salt, and wine. But it was reading through Keller's methods that helped me understand how even a street bistro could completely slay me with any dish on its menu. Apparently starting with superior ingredients and refining throughout the cooking process is the je ne sais quoi that takes even the simplest meal from pretty good to OMG.

The library begins.

It was only a matter of time before I got out to Keller's Yountville empire to try his food firsthand (spoiler alert: the hype is real), and from there I started exploring restaurants of other masters of the culinary universe: Chang, Boulud, Franklin, Tosi, Bloomfield. And along the way, I figured that since I couldn't visit -- or afford -- as much as I'd like, I would at least take home the next best thing.  So just like that, my new ritual was born: eat chef's food, buy chef's book, make chef's recipes. And while I will always appreciate the luxury of a Michelin-starred meal when I can swing it, some of my favorite dining experiences since picking up a cookbook habit have been at my own table, after working in my own kitchen, starting from words on my shelf.

A very literal book to table iceberg wedge from Ad Hoc At Home.

So here goes! A food blog dedicated to home gourmets -- because while we can't always start at the farm, we can at least go from Book to Table.