Welcome to Everything Tasty! Here's what it was, and what it is.

Hello! Thank for coming to Everything Tasty. This blog is coming up on its 8th anniversary, and although most of the posts and action around here was in those first three years, enough time has passed so that many of you never came across it in its original state, and are now wondering why its set up the way it is, and why the header says I'm 22 even though I'm 28.

I've been part of this blog since the beginning, but it was the brainchild of my godmother Anne Milton. For any of you who met her, I don't need to tell you that Anne was a transcendently wonderful human being, full of kindness, joie de vivre, and passion for her hobbies. Paramount among these was cooking, which was sometimes also her passion–at points in her life she ran a small but successful catering company.

Anne was my mom's best friend from age 8 into their late 50s. She was there when I was born, and she was very much another mother in my life, encouraging me to be kind, to be curious, and to learn how to make art. Above all, she taught me to cook, imparting her wisdom and her recipes, bringing me to dinner parties with her adult Boston friends who were very kind about having a kid in their midst. We were very different kinds of cooks–she liked meticulous execution of classic recipes, while I preferred wild experimentation–but I learned most of what I know in the kitchen from her.

In 2010,  when I was halfway through college, and she was recently diagnosed with cancer, she came up with this blog as a way for us to do something together. She did most of the actual cooking (and took beautiful photographs), but I kicked in the odd recipe, some restaurant reviews, and our trademark Random Musings about Food. On short college breaks, I'd go to Boston and we'd cook together, sometimes planning elaborate meals for friends. It became something that bound us even closer together, and when I moved to Boston after college I looked forward to years of writing and posting together.

Sadly, it didn't work that way–we got together to cook and go out a few times, but the cancer got worse and worse, and in 2013 we lost her. It was devastating for me, for her husband Ken, for my mom, for everyone who knew her. I spent a lot of time wondering what to do after she passed, and ultimately I decided that I wanted to do the things that would make her proud of me. I went into disability activism, which has turned into my passion and full-time career. I kept cooking, for myself and for my friends.

And, at least once in a while, I continued posting on this blog. I haven't done it nearly as much as I'd like–Anne was always the organized one, and I've photographed a lot of dishes with the intent of writing them up and them haven't done it. Hers was also the administrator account, so I can't change the header–that's the last one she put up in 2012 and it has stayed frozen since then. But even if in the years since I've only averaged a few posts a year, I'm proud to have kept this blog alive–I think it would make Anne happy to see it keep going, to see me keep taking pleasure in cooking and food the way she taught me to. And if you enjoy reading this, and especially if it inspires you to make something yourself, I think that's the best tribute I could pay her. Happy eating!