First Post - Starting an unknown adventure

Sooo... I watched "Julie & Julia" this evening.  I guess you know what's coming now, don't you?

I want to be a writer.

In the sprit of becoming a writer, this is the obligatory wordy introduction to an otherwise light and fluffy tome that will become my magnum opus in the long run. Not that I'm not a writer (of sorts)  already - my friends and family will know about my facebook musings, my briefly lived LiveJournalling, my twatter twits and my occasionally amusing posts on various chatboards, but I think that I could eventually publish something useful out of all this, and so I thought I'd toss my hat in the ring and see what grows, to mix a delicious metaphor cocktail first up for you.

So, the thing is, I was watching Julie & Julia, and probably like thousands of other people, I got motivated to do something with my obsession - food.  Is it unhealthy to obsess over food?  Perhaps, but I'm looking at the reasons for that, and have decided that blogging about food might actually cure the obsession - or at least channel it into a manageable pastime rather than a mindless occupation.  Making sense now?  No?  Good.  It doesn't make sense to me either, but hey - maybe there will be a movie in it one day.  Maybe.   I want someone pretty to play me if they do make it into a movie.

Er, where were we?

Yes, Seeing as I like to create, research, eat and offer various culinary items (at various levels of success & tastiness), I thought I'd put it all down somewhere (besides the table).   There is also travel - Hopefully lots of it before I'm done.  Bucketloads.

Travel is one of the main inspirations for the blog.  I love travelling around the world and trying different foods & dishes (and marvelling at how different the original versions of various dishes are from what I've been presented with in Australia - like comparing Canard à l'Orange in Paris to Fanta Duck in some godforsaken country Australian town), and will be doing more travels overseas, which will kick start this blog - but that's not where I'm going with it.  Not as the long-term idea.  No, the main concept comes from the idea of travelling with a Caravan.

I want to come up with a book that tells of my travels on the road, and the food I prepare along the way.  Part storytelling, a great part recipe book, and hopefully mostly entertaining.  Something from a layman's view, that doesn't have a qualified chef or food critic/writer presenting their thoughts on various cuisines.  Just something that shows how I like to cook.

I have had a triple bypass, that's one thing that will never be a secret, and I know that a lot of the recipes that are in here are not going to be terribly healthy, but it's all about moderation, not denying yourself things (Derren Brown did an interesting experiment in telling people not to do something, and I know how that ended...), and foremost not meant to be any sort of textbook or guidebook on what to eat.  It's just a celebration of my memories-in-the-making that I (and others, hopefully) can look back on and enjoy.

If there's anything to be learnt from this blog, either by my eventual readers (if I ever get any) or my self, I hope it is that life is a short, precious commodity.  Too short and far too ephermeral.  Live it large, laugh, and appreciate every moment you have on this wonderful planet, and all the wonderful people you meet.  And eat some butter every now and then.  It tastes yummy.

-Rob.