Probably not, but I’m going to write one anyhow.
I’ve been cooking since I was four. That’s 48 years of experience now.
I’ve also invested a bunch of time in research (and money) in tools and toys and books that I’ll tell you about occasionally.
I have spent some time cooking professionally, but I’m by no means a chef or a pro – it’s strictly a hobby.
But it’s a great hobby – there’s no better way to show people that you love them than to feed them, and we all have to eat. I don’t have the means or the time to regularly eat well with other people cooking for me, so I learned how to do it myself.
That’s what I’m sharing. Love of food and making it for people.
This blog will cover original recipes, reviews of other people’s recipes, and occasional commentary on tools and other cooking products.
I’m also going to try to not do things that I see in other food blogs that annoy the crap out of me.
For instance, I’m going to lead with the recipe. I promise not to make you scroll through interminable personal anecdotes about the recipe before you get to it. When I do research on how to cook something, it’s because I’m wanting to cook something and I don’t know how. I’m way less interested in five paragraphs of why you have a deeply personal family connection to duck tongues than I am in how to make them yummy. I’ll read that crap while I’m eating them, if your recipe actually was yummy. Please stop making me scroll through all of that stuff in order to find the recipe
Sometimes there won’t be a recipe. Then I’ll lead with narrative. Since this is my first post, this is one of those times.

After putting a fair amount of thought into where to start, I’ve settled on starting my blog how I start my day (most days) – with coffee.

Coffee is something of a religious topic for a lot of people. I’ve been an avid coffee drinker since I was a teenager, and at this point I’m an unapologetic coffee snob. This is the best way I know to make it…
About three years ago I made the switch from an automatic drip system to a manual pour over system. After a bunch of research I settled on this guy here:

This is my Kalita pour over system.
I went with Kalita because my research indicated it had the fastest learning curve of the Japanese pour over systems. I didn’t try any of the others (Hario or Chemex, for instance) so I don’t know how this compares. But it wasn’t hard to learn, and it makes great coffee.
The other tools necessary for this are a grinder, a scale, and a pour over kettle. My total investment in this was around the cost of replacing the drip machine that had died.

Use a burr grinder, not one of those cheap blade grinders. The blade grinders are great for spices and pepper, but they don’t grind. They chop. You get bitter flat tasting coffee. I got my Capresso burr grinder from Sierra Trading post a couple of years ago for around $40. Great investment.

I’m going to pause for a moment to acknowledge that I’m not making a ton of effort to make my photos look pristine. These are actual photos of my actual gear that I actually use to make actual food. They’re going to look like it.
I weigh my beans out to 45 grams (that took some trial and error), grind them medium fine (also trial and error), then heat water to 185 degrees in a pour over kettle. Get a pour over kettle. It has a long spout that lets you control the pour. A tea kettle won’t work. I had a stove top one but it kept boiling over (no whistle). I bought a $30 electric kettle from Amazon six months ago – much better.
I prefer local coffee – my go-to right now is Just Coffee’s Bike Fuel

The method is simple – weigh, grind, heat water, slowly pour. Makes much better coffee than any drip machine I’ve tried or owned.
I’m not going to get into more detail about the method. You can do the research and decide. The level of argument about how to make pour over coffee rises truly Talmudic. I think it’s something you need to experiment with and figure out for yourself.
Good Luck, until next time.