In The Beginning

Hello, this is Eric. I am a stay at home father of four boys with the most wonderful, beautiful Irish lass this side of the Atlantic for my wife. I was originally going to title this first entry, "Co To Jest", which means what is this, in Polish, because that is my heritage, but didn't want to scare off anyone with a fear of foriegn languages. I, myself took French in highschool and college, which did benefit me a bit when it came to culinary school. Ever since Julia Child everything in cooking is French, or it is name specific to something else. Go figure!?!
Anyway, I call this blog, "Eric's Kitchen" for a couple of reasons. For one, all my life I thought that when I grew up and opened my own restaurant, I would call it, "Eric's"; plain and simple. Just like Michele's, Luigi's, Delmoico's...etc. However, as you can see by the above, I am not there at this time in my life. It is also about my kitchen, and what runs through it. Let me tell you that my kitchen is not one of these 6 burner range, double electric oven, walk in cooler, granite counter top island extavaganzas. It is a modest 8x16 walk through, single gas oven, four top range, where the refrigerator blocks 1/4 of the window, the garbage can is 10 feet from the sink, and I have 6 square feet of formica counter top space if I'm lucky. But as us confident men will say, "Size doesn't matter." I produce more goodness from my little area then I've seen come out of some often over priced and underused warehouses people call their kitchens. Others have often commented that I seem to have a knack for good tasting food. This may be true, but I would attribute that to my tastebuds, because for what I make, I just stick by one of my culinary professors words, "Don't serve what you wouldn't eat." If I don't like it, I don't make it. Even if I get a request from someone to make something I've never tasted, I scrutinize and end up making it tasty to me.
Aside from good food, the other things that run in and through my kitchen are my four boys. They range from 10-3, and are each so different. I won't say what's right or what's wrong, because only the maker will let me know this when I pass, but love, laughter and good food will be shared. Therefore, I will continue to make entries now and again, but welcome anyone with questions, particularly on cooking. I find experience to be the best teacher, but necessity, invention and ingenuity often pave the way for some great results.
So, send me your questions, comments, and thoughts, but please be civil. I will do my best to entertain and effectively respond to all of them. Until next time, I leave you with this simple question:
When cooking foul, "Why do you truss a bird?" Because, if you can't truss a bird, who can you truss(t)?