The Unculinary Cook: Julie, Julie and Julia

(My very first fondant cake--for my Mom's 50th birthday!)

About a year ago, I was sitting with my fiancé watching TV and the preview for the movie Julie and Julia came on. I turned to my fiancé with an incredulous look on my face and saw him looking back at me with the same expression as he joked, "I didn't know they made a movie about you!"

Turns out the movie wasn't exactly about me... but pretty close. My passion in life is cooking, yet I've never taken a cooking class and conveniently enough, my name is also Julie.

However, when I saw the movie I quickly realized I am the anti-Julie Powell when I heard the line, "Is there anything better than butter? Think it over, any time you taste something that's delicious beyond imagining and you say 'what's in this?' the answer is always going to be butter. The day there is a meteorite rushing toward Earth and we have thirty days to live, I am going to spend it eating butter. Here is my final word on the subject, you can never have too much butter."

WRONG! You can definitely have too much butter, something can be delicious beyond imagining without butter, and there are much better things in the world than butter. And on this note, I explain my reason for blogging.

As I said earlier, I love to cook. But, I try to cook everything in a lighter, healthier fashion... butter is not my friend. And hopefully by reading my blog you will agree and find alternatives that you love! I will share my latest recipes and low cal/low carb food finds (I am ALWAYS on the lookout).

But, before I begin... here's a little bit about me:

After college, I wanted to attend culinary school... but having absolutely no money to my name, I had to ask my dad to pay for yet another year of school. The funny thing about parents is if you need money to do something, they always ask for details. Well, when I explained that cooking was my dream and that I wanted to do it for a living he told me he didn't want me having the life of a chef (late hours, small paychecks, high stress). So, he told me to go to law school first and then we'd talk. I obliged and went to law school... for a week. After 5 days of hell, I asked myself what the life of a lawyer would be (late hours... check!, high stress... check!, small paychecks-- no, but I don't think a big paycheck trumps happiness in a career).

So, back to my dad I went. "Dad, I tried law school and hated it, I know I will love culinary school... please can you help me out?"

"Blah, blah, blah... life of a chef..late hours, small paychecks, high stress... go get a Masters degree first, something you can fall back on and then we’ll talk."

Two years and a Masters in teaching later, I thought to myself, “what will the life of a teacher be?” (small paychecks... check!, high stress... check!, late hours... grading papers, lesson planning... check!)

Now I'm 25, with a bachelors in criminal justice, a bachelors in psychology, and a masters in teaching... none of which are being used. But, I learned one important lesson-- stop asking my Dad about culinary school unless I want to be forced into Med. school ;)

So, I figured out a way to make it happen on my own... in due time. I am currently working in marketing... still cooking and creating new recipes. Eventually, when I have the money to send myself to culinary school, I will… but in the meantime I will share my culinary stories and recipes with you!

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Last night I made made Mahi and shrimp miso stirfry. I cooked for my fiancé, Jon, my friend Ashley, and myself… and there was plenty left for lunch today!

Ingredients:

Fresh or frozen stirfry Chinese veggies

(snow peas, carrots, broccoli, water chestnuts) – 1 bag