It is the most wonderful time of the year…for baking!  I’m a baker, albeit an amateur baker; but, none the less, I’ve always enjoyed baking.  Is it because it brings back fond memories of helping my Grandmother, Mims, when I was a kid, the wonderful aromas baking fills the house with, or because I find comfort in the simple pleasure of baking and watching those I love enjoy the fruits of my labor?  Not quite sure and not really interested in pondering it (at this moment), but I do love baking.

There’s a certain je ne sais qoui about growing up in New England and the various epicurean pleasures that abound.  Chowdah made with cream, the wonderful scent and even better taste of an apple crisp coming out of the oven on a chilly fall day, clam bakes by the ocean.  The food is delightful and the entire region is right out of a Norman Rockwell painting.  Warm, inviting, harking back to a simpler time and place; capturing this feeling and offering it to those I love has, over the years, become my mission.

And, today, I begin to share this with all.  Why Nor’east?  Well, because I’m now a Jersey girl (must be read in a obnoxious tone…Jerzee).   And I’ve grown to love…ekks, that may be a slight exaggeration, the area.  Why Epicurean?  Well, I’d like to enhance my skills as a baker and perhaps figure a thing or two out about cooking.  So, I’ll be traveling the Northeast, taking baking and cooking classes, visiting culinary artisans, sampling local fare; and will bring my discoveries here to entertain, educate and delight readers of all ages.

So, I invite you to join me.  Come to a class with me, share recipes (I get a kick out of old family recipes and trying to recreate them), tell me about your journeys and epicurean discoveries along the way.  Most importantly, I hope you enjoy the journey I take you on.