Renee's Kitchen Quest

Hello, My name is Renee’. I grew up in a small town. Graduated, got married, had babies, got a job…Or a few jobs, lol. I have always enjoyed working. I know that sounds strange. But, I’m not one to sit at home all day. When I learned about food blogging it was something that intrigued me. I enjoyed cooking, hosting parties and taking on new cooking quests.  I decided to jump in. Now I get to do something I love and share it with the world.

As a child, I collected stemware. I fell in love with the elegance and beauty of them. Every time we went to the thrift store or a garage sale that is what I wanted. Then I wanted one of everything. Now my collection is extensive. My family gives me strange looks every like I bring something new home for the kitchen. But, I can’t help it. Everybody has to have something wacky about them right?

When I first got married I learned how to cook by trial and error and advice from my Mother-in-law. As I researched, learned and grew in my skills I started to enjoy cooking. It wasn’t just something I had to do to feed my new family. Every time I created something new and tasty it made me so happy. They didn’t always work out. I have had plenty of meals that didn’t turn out that great. But that’s where you have a chance to grow, learn and try again.

I have always been one to try and stay healthy and work out. We discovered the body for life workout and meal plan and I started cooking healthy meals most nights. Some of what I share are recipes I have tweaked from way back then and still make regularly.

When we had our first child I wanted to stay home and take care of the house and the babies. That gave me plenty of time to work on recipes, work out and take care of the household needs. I was a stay at home mom or as I like to call it Household CEO until both our children were in school. Then it was time to find a job.

I never went to college and didn’t have many skills. I had a few jobs and landed on the marvelous idea that I wanted to open my own Italian Restaurant. I made my business plan, menu, and even had a place picked out. I had everything planned out. When I went to the bank to get my loan they thought I was crazy. Because I had no restaurant experience. So, my next step was to get a job in a restaurant. Get the experience I needed. I started working in a BBQ restaurant. quickly rose to management. and loved what I did. I got to work on recipes, create my own dishes and share it with our customers. The owner had some health issues and the restaurant ended up closing. At that point, I knew that was the kind of job I enjoyed doing. I took a chance and walked into a little cafe down the street from where the BBQ place was and asked for a job. He said he didn’t have much to offer as far as management. but I could start the next day. I started as a busboy. or girl, lol. I fell in love with that place. We got to see the same people every day. They became something like a family. I started working in all areas except for the food. I hosted, cleaned the tables, took the orders, carried food, and worked the register.

Then come the TURNPIKE. At this point, we lived on my husband’s family land. His whole family lived on that land. We were lucky enough to have his parents right next to us. The kids were so blessed to have been able to be so close to them. The Turnpike changed all that. They forcefully bought our land and we all had to find a new home. We ended up in a new town. far far away, lol. And the rest of the family had dispersed all over. We had been separated. It was devastating for all of us. For another year I drove almost an hour to work because I just couldn’t leave. When the time came to find something closer to home I started at a pool hall just a few minutes from the house. Again grew to management quickly. And had the freedom to create in the kitchen. And then it all fell apart and sadly it closed.

When my husband mentioned I didn’t need to go back to work. I could stay at home. I wasn’t sure about that. As I mentioned I don’t like just sitting around. I like having a reason to get up and get ready and go do something important. But I hadn’t had the time to take care of the house and my body the way that I had when I was the Household CEO. And now the Food Blog idea sounded like something that I would like to try. It was something that I could do that would keep me busy but on my own schedule. I could work out and take care of the house and cook dinner every night. And, I had heard that it was something that you could make money at. So, I started looking into it. It sounded like something I would love and dove in deep.

It’s only been a few months. I’m very new and have a lot to learn. But, enjoy doing it. I get to do everything I love.