"Come Join Us" - Who We Are

The long-and-short-of-it is we're just two crazy kids who are crazy in love. We've been dating and living together in Western North Carolina for a while now and are getting married in January. This blog has been born out of how much time we spend together in the kitchen and at the dinner table.

Jordan is a marvelous cook and works at a locally owned deli that's renowned across the state for it's creative and delicious sandwiches. He has this great - and rare - ability to create new dishes out of thin air; he just understands flavors so well. And is "the god of my lunchbox."

On our first date, he actually made the most delicious picnic for us including wonderful blueberry scones. Of course, I'm a brainwashed girl and resisted the urge to eat copious amounts in front of a new love interest (but I REALLY wanted to). Instead, I ate modestly and wowed him with my witty banter about NPR, Mercury in retrograde and Star Wars (hook, line and sinker).

I think I'm not too bad of a cook either. While Jordan is very willing to - and successful at - trying new flavors and inventing new dishes, I am easily excited by new recipes (perhaps too excited). I love trying new dishes. Pinterest may be the downfall of my stomach and/or wallet.

But I have a few tried and true recipes that I can whip up in a matter of minutes and always enjoy. Before Jordan moved in I was pretty set in my ways in the kitchen and had two trusty "single girl" entrees that I alternated almost every night - an everything-but-the-kitchen-sink pasta carbonara and equally overloaded nachos. That stale period of dinnertime fare may be to blame for this rash of Pinterest experiments.

I think each couple has their "thing" that they do or enjoy together. Some couples travel together to wild locations and explore new worlds. Others devote themselves to family-owned businesses or throw themselves into being the best cheerleader parents. At this point in our lives, we take great joy and care in our food.

We take the time to eat and cook together. Even on those "floppy nights" where we pick up Subway on the way home, we sit side by side or at the table and enjoy it. I'm always happy to be Jordan's sous chef and he's more than willing to jump in when I get flustered trying to make three components at once with the smoke alarm inevitably beeping (it goes off only when I'm panicked cooking). And we love trying new things - new restaurants, new menu items and new eating experiences together.

They say the way to a man's heart is through his stomach; but it's also a great foundation a relationship. A love that rests on sharing tastes, textures and feelings and grows with new ingredients, tools and techniques is a love that continues to mature with the new and find comfort in tradition and memories.

Come join us...