Putting in Place

I've made a little change to the ole blog after just one post.  Not shocking.  I was never really thrilled about the name I chose to begin with so I decided to give it some more thought.  I didn't intend on having a "theme" per se, but I knew that I would need some sort of direction to come up with a name that I truly liked.  Before I began, I knew that I would be writing about general happenings within my oh so interesting life.  I felt as though having a theme would narrow the list of topics I should be writing about more often than not.  The more I thought about it the more I realized that that wasn't the case at all.  There are plenty of blogs out there that have a central theme that most of their posts follow, but they still post about their everyday lives and the things happening around them.

So I started by simply thinking about myself, what I enjoy, and what I would write about the most.  I have a love for cooking.  I have always said that if I were independently wealthy I would go to culinary school just for the heck of it.  I would just stay home and cook amazing meals for my family and entertain my friends.  Sadly, wealthy is no where close to being in the list of adjectives that describe me (tear).  This love began in college when I began watching Food Network 24/7.  When I wasn't in class, I was watching Paula, Giada, Rachel, and my favorite, Tyler Florence.  I'm in lurve with him.  I can't believe he went and married a former Miss Wyoming when he could have had me.  RUDE.  Anyway, cooking has always been a way to relax for me, as well as a way for me to show those close to me how much I care for them. 

Another love I met in college was this magnificent beauty...

I'm sad to admit, I started out with the hard stuff, such as Franzia's Chillable Red (or box wine for those of you who have never had the pleasure of enjoying).  Puke.  I then began to branch out and today I'm a full on snob.  Not really, but close.  I told a friend recently that one of my life goals is to become a sommelier.  The ultimate wine snob.  Who wouldn't want to be able to upstage all of your friends at dinner parties?  Seriously though, wine fascinates me.  There is so much that goes into growing the grapes, such as the weather, the soil, and the timing of the harvest.  If any one of these has a negative affect on the grape, it can totally alter the taste of the wine.  The care that is taken throught the winemaking process is so meticulous.  There are countless varietals to taste and choose from that it makes me wonder how these people who are so knowledgeable about wine can retain the amount of information.  Possibly my favorite thing about wine, however, is being able to pair it with certain foods to bring out their flavor.  One of my favorite pairings is wine and chocolate.  Next time you go to the store, pick up some dark chocolate and a full-bodied zinfandel or syrah.  You won't be disappointed.

I'm not sure where this love came into play, but I somehow became obsessed with all things French.  Weird, I know, but I love their culture.  Everything is beautiful: their language, art, style, countryside.  And the fact that a large part of it is centered around wine and cheese doesn't hurt either.  Although, French men I could probably do without.  I feel like they would be super high maintenance and creepy.  I picture them all looking like this...

Lastly, I enjoy exercising.  It's hard and painful at times, but I enjoy being outside and the feeling of accomplishment when I am done is like no other.  I usually work out with weights, run, or go to a spin class.  I try to mix it up because this guh has a pretty big case of ADD.  If I get bored, working out is torture.  Over the last year I've been running a lot more than usual.  I don't have the body of a long-distance runner and I never ran track or anything growing up so it's been tough.  I turn 30 this year and have made a pledge to myself that I will run a half marathon before my birthday in November.  I plan to start really training seeing as how this has been a mild winter and my fingers don't feel as though they will snap off at any moment so we shall see how it goes!

So after compiling all of these thoughts I still couldn't make my brain function enough to think of a creative name for the blog so I enlisted some friends for help.  One of them came up with Mise en Place.  I had to google since I had no idea what it meant and thought it was perfect!  It is French and it translates literally to "putting in place".  Even though its meaning has to do with the setup and organizing of a kitchen before cooking, I felt like I could relate its meaning and literal translation to all parts of my life.  It is basically the steps a chef takes in order to be prepared so that he is ready for whatever lies ahead.  Technically you could say that life is like a constant mise en place.  As we all grow older, we go through multiple trials and tribulations that we don't understand.  We sort through them and we're eventually able to put them in place behind us.  With each step we learn more about ourselves and who we are.  This, in turn, prepares us for what lay ahead.  We put the pieces of our lives into place in an effort to be prepared for what life chooses to throw at us next, whether it be good or bad, large or small. 

I hope everyone likes it as much as I do!  I'm glad I can finally check that off the list.  Happy Munday!