The Premise

If you are anything like me, you ate pretty well at home when you lived with your parents – before you entered the real world, started a job, and got your own apartment.


“Mom, I’m hungry!” My hunger pangs were always quickly and well satisfied. Buttermilk pancakes and thick apple smoked bacon for breakfast. Grilled cheese and tomato soup for lunch. Spaghetti with homemade arrabiata sauce for dinner. Those were just the basics. Weekends were more gourmet – braised short ribs with mushroom risotto, smoked baby back ribs with okra stew, or rosemary lamb chops with wild rice and roasted cauliflower. Not to mention, I rarely had to clean up the dishes, buy the groceries, or plan much of anything. Sit down and eat, and eat some more, that was my role.

Well, now, I am out of the house and on my own. Living in Seattle, a completely new city across the country from Texas, and in my first job out of college. Life is very different than it once was. Totally independent, I am 22-years-old, single and hungry at least three times a day. I live alone in a beautiful apartment in Capitol Hill (a neighborhood in Seattle) with a decent kitchen. However, time, money, skill and organization are just a few of the obstacles in my way to eat as well as I did back home in Dallas, Texas.

I not only ate well as a kid, but developed a deep interest in food and cooking. My mission: to eat as well as I did before without employing the services of well trained chefs at fancy restaurants, or girlfriends. However, unlike my parents, I have some more serious restraints: a tighter budget, less time, a kitchen without a Viking range, inadequate pots & pans, and a "bit" less skill.

I will document my trials and tribulations in the journal to follow. Hopefully, I will learn some things along the way and will my readers. This blog will be as informative as it will be fun. Feel free to share some tips with me and leave comments. I can be reached at Mickey@MickeyAshmore.com.

Bon Appétit.