About the Cook - An interview with Kirsten

One of my favorite bloggers, Lis of La Mia Cucina, was recently interviewed by another blogger. The idea was to ask interesting questions to get to know the blogger better, but not be one of those silly questionnaires we have been passing around since high school.

After I read Lis' interview, which was awesome, she offered to interview other bloggers and I said YES!

So, in case any of my readers out there are curious about me, read on as Lis interviews me! Enjoy!

1- You are an incredible cook - but we don't see too much baking on your blog. Do you like to bake at all? If so, what's your favorite thing to bake?
Thanks Lis! But baking, yeah, I really don't do much baking. I do like to bake, but it is a strict sport in that you *must* have all the right ingredients, in just the right proportion and it can take longer to bake than cook. (I am impulsive and impatient) My favorite things to bake when I do bake are cupcakes, brownies, cookies, tarts or muffins.

Also, another reason I don't bake much (true confession) is I am vain and am try to enjoy eating and food as much as possible and still not get fat, so I prefer to save my calories for delicious food and wine and can take or leave dessert. Also, I live alone and my boyfriend eats very healthy, so who is going to eat all my baked goods? Around the holidays I get more into baking because I can give it away! :)

2- Describe the perfect date night.
Ok, this is fun. I think the perfect date night that is a realistic possibility (so no quick flights to Mexico or anything), would be to have a early dinner at sunset at Quiessence Restaurant at the Farm at South Mountain, dining on local, seasonal, and consciously-grown food paired with delicious wine in a beautiful outdoor setting. Then, martinis and live music and dancing, then ending the night sitting outside on a patio, overlooking the city and talking.

Or, I would love a steak-and-martini retro-fabulous dinner at Durant's in Downtown Phoenix, then the symphony for some classical music - my favorites are Mozart and Vivaldi, although I tend to like anything baroque.

3- What is one of your "hidden" talents that we don't know about? Hmmm, hidden talents. Sadly I am feeling hidden-talentless as I ponder this, but I guess I would say my hidden talent is my reading ability. I can literally read an entire book in just a few hours and with good comprehension. The SAT's (not counting the math part of course) were a breeze for me, and as a kid the reading challenges or book reports felt like a non-assignment.

I read at least a few newspapers and magazines a day for work, not to mention countless Web pages and blogs and of course my food blog addiction after work, and I almost always read books and magazines in bed before going to sleep...so I still read a lot!

4- If you were told that you could only have 5 foods and 1 beverage for the rest of your life - what would they be?
Wow, that is REALLY hard. I really really embrace the omnivorous aspect of being human.

If nutrition is not a concern and I MUST pick, it would be cheese, chocolate, really good bread (french baguette) with butter, authentic bean and cheese burritos (with tons of hot sauce) and narrowing down seafood to one thing...probably shrimp? The one beverage would definitely be wine.

5- What was your favorite vacation or fun thing to do with your family when you were a child?
We did a lot of fun family trips when I was growing up, my parents always made family vacation a priority for me and my 2 brothers. We lived very comfortably, but were not wealthy, so we opted for longer trips and better sights, but did a lot of road trips and camping and didn't do a lot of resorts and such.

I always loved the beach, the lake, the river or pretty much any body of water, and camping in the redwood forests of the Pacific Northwest was a highlight. We did the Pacific Northwest trip one year in a borrowed vintage VW bus, and that was really fun. I slept in the hammock bed over the front seats.

My favorite vacation as an adult hasn't changed too much, I love to spend hours at the beach, read lots of books, eat fabulous food and drink cocktails.

Do you want to be interviewed? Here are the directions:
1. Leave a comment saying, "Interview me."
2. I will respond by emailing you five questions. Beware, I may ask personal questions! Please make sure I have your email address.
3. You will update your blog with the answers to the questions.
4. You will include this explanation and offer to interview someone else in the same post.
5. When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them five questions.