Getting Back in the Swing of Things

Since moving, my favorite hobby has been put on the way, way, back, back, dirty, dusty burner of my new kitchen. It's not that I haven't been cooking at all, it just hasn't been out of anything more than a temporary belly filling. There's little passion and much stress! The lack of spices, much less counter top space (although the granite tops are quite pretty to look at), and a whole new world of foods, flavor, brands, etc has been actually pretty overwhelming. What I had imagined would be encouraging and exciting has been scary. I find myself feeling like a stranger in my own country. Throw me in a Mexican supermarket and ill be whipping up something yummy in no time. I'm just so out of the loop here it's hard getting back into it all. But I'm taking this time to absorb it all. Adapting. Taking in my surroundings. Collecting the right utensils (the ones you don't realize you sold at the garage sale until your reaching for it and it's not there). It's been a project and it's been really fun. Who knew how much Safeway could deter someone FROM cooking. Walking the many isles reading labels to find out what something is, getting lost because milk is refrigerated here, the brands they don't have here. The one place I have found that gives me some peace is Walmart. Everyone jokes .(myself included) that Walmart is sooo white trash, because most of the time it is. Luckily, we have a brand new, semi-close by that if you go early enough in the morning you can be the only one there. They have all my familiar brands like Fabuloso, Bimbo, even Taki chips! It's so exciting and I'm getting used to the weird glances from people seeing the whitest girl loading up on Mexican brand foods as if they were coming into style! It's ok, because thats what's home to me. I'm stocking up on Food Network mags and Pintrest-ing new recipes to start trying out once the fear has subsided and the "ganas" to cook is back. So bear with me my Hungries because the food is coming!