In Which I Start a Blog

Greetings, internet!  I have decided to start a blog.  I spend most of my day narrating my life in my head, so I figured why not put some of my musings on, er, screen, and share them with you!  Don't be scared, I promise I won't be (too) creepy.  My blog is called "Confessions of a Yankee Baker."  I thought of this title last night while I was baking a pie using bacon drippings for the crust in place of shortening, which I was too lazy to go out and purchase.  So there is my first confession.  I make pies with bacon grease.

My next confession is that no one outisde of the South uses the term "Yankee," save in reference to a certain baseball team from the Bronx.  Southerners use it as a derogatory term--with varying degrees of venom--for anyone outside of Dixie, but no one termed a Yankee will introduce themselves thus.  And it's not because of the negative connotation of the word; as someone born west of the Mississippi and raised north of the Mason-Dixon Line, I can assure it's because it just doesn't occur to us.  We don't really find the need to differentiate between Northern People and Southern People the way folks in the South do--unless it's those freaky bayou people you see on the Discovery Channel, but even Southerners consider them a separate breed.  Maybe it's because we won, but the bottom line is, "Yankees" don't think of themselves as such.  So why do I use it in my blog?  Well, for the last three years I've been living in Virginia, about an hour away from the Confederate capital of Richmond.  Now, I will confess that the area I live in reminds me quite a bit of the suburban New Jersey town in which I was raised--but less Jews (don't worry, Northern friends, we have a Manhattan Bagel) and the Chinese restaurants don't deliver (I have no redeeming good news for this.  It is what it is and it sucks)--but plently of people here insist that Virginia Really Is the South! and so who am I to doubt them?  They call me a Yankee (and I happen to support said baseball team), so why not?

Now, the last confession is that this blog may not be exclusively about baking.  Because I don't always bake, that's why.  And it's my blog, so deal with it.  It will involve a lot of food, however--baked, fried, toasted, microwaved, prepared by professionals, &c--because I like food.  Correction: I LOVE food.  It is delicious and keeps me alive, so thumbs up in my book.  I will share my adventures in the kitchen with you, but maybe also some crafty things and certainly some random ramblings.  Buckle up kids, we're going for a ride!

I think we'll leave it at that for tonight, just a basic introduction.  Tune in next time, in which I chronicle some of my latest baking escapades, including details of the bacon pie crust and the motherload of zucchini bread.

Cheers!
The Yankee Baker