Over the past week I have been contemplating on where I see myself going with This & That. There are many things that I would like to see happen, so I have decided that I will take things as they come. I have been researching other bloggers, recipes, cookbooks, cooking techniques, how to get published and everything else. Everything I read says that you have to find your niche, no more just cooking and doing things like just a seasonal cookbook. I need to stand out. Of course I got to thinking how am I going to stand out from the millions of others that are doing very similar things. Well about 36 hours later after that thought, the light went off in my head and now I know exactly what I am going to do. I am not ready to put it out there yet, but I can promise you it will be great. During this time when I was thinking what made me stand out in my life and what makes me unique. Then I started thinking about people I know and people you read about and what makes them unique. Of course, I had to relate those thoughts to my passion which is food. What makes my food unique? What is going to make it stand out? Why are people going to want to eat it?

My answer is everything will be unique as I am. There is no one set way to prepare a meal. Some of us eat only organic, farm to table, some eat only processed foods. But that is who we are. My goal is not to change what you eat, but to eat and prepare meals that fit you. My recipes will be written in ways that you can tweak them to fit your life. Personally, I try to prepare as many fresh products as possible and have less processed foods. I buy as many local foods as I can including eggs, honey, meats and vegetable. I do believe that when you eat from your environment it helps with allergies and sickness. I have learned and am still learning how to preserve fresh ingredients. Now that does not mean I don't keep processed things. But again I just pick and choose at the time what I am using or not using. So yes if you came to my house you would see some jarred pasta sauce, canned goods and other items. Why because, I still want to be prepared in case of a natural disaster. Yes, I am weird like that.

As for my endeavors, there will be some personal cheffing (pretty sure that's not a word)  going on, cooking lessons, preparation tutorials, what to stock when its in season kind of things. I will have a plethora if information for those who are interested in food and it meeting you where you are. You wont have to be a trained or gourmet chef. All you will need to do is spend a little time and make a little effort. A lot of people assume it takes a lot of time to make things but it really does not.