A while ago, my friend Eryn and I were brainstorming some ideas about what to do with our passion for cooking while our 6 month old babies admired each other on the floor. When she raised whether or not we should write a blog, my initial reaction was no, the world didn’t need another food blog – there are so many food blogs out there. But the more I read so many great ones and how they started, the more I fell in love with the idea of starting one.

I’m actually an introvert. So why would I, a person with a frame like the one below on the wall, write a blog? The more I read about food writing and blogging, the more it interests me. Here is what the lawyer in me wrote down to convince myself:

1. I want to up my game. I attended 70% of a year long culinary course in 2005 and I want to put that distant life back into practice and to keep learning. If I don’t blog, I may continue to surrender to the easy pre-made Trader Joe’s alternatives that prevent me from having fun in the kitchen. I am not being ungrateful, Trader Joe’s, I have survived the last 8 years mostly because of you. So thank you.
2. I have dozens of pages of recipes ripped from magazines over the last almost 2 decades that I would love to cook through and organize, in addition to the several mystery ones written on pieces of paper that I have no idea where they came from (but I can’t seem to throw away until I’ve cooked them).
3. I enjoy writing. And I am frustrated with my “Mom’s One Line a Day” five-year memory book. Do you have one of those? I am in my second one (in my 6th year), and so many days went blank because I can’t bring myself to write every single day, and when I do want to write, I can’t fit it in 6 tiny lines. Does it sound familiar? I also regret the way too long “note” I wrote to a friend when gifting her a book recently. I clearly need a place to write.
4. I long for my home country. I can’t have the people or the places, but I can transport myself every time I make a dish that I miss while listening to choro or bossa nova. If I start a blog, I will commit to doing that.
5. I wish I knew more about my parents, grandparents and great-grandparents. My aunt showed me a little book of poems that my grandmother used to write when she was young and I was fascinated. One day my children or grandchildren will know a bit more about me.
6. I think it would motivate my kids to cook more with me and try more different foods. They are already really good about it, most likely because they are involved in the process. Maybe it will even motivate them to set the table more often without complaining and my husband to do more dishes! Well, he already does most of them.
7. It would be a great excuse to acquire a few new kitchen gadgets, pans, knives, collect some cute dishes, and most importantly, update some of the old, sad kitchen utensils that I continue to use because I tend to use stuff until they are destroyed. Listen up, Santa, friends, family: I will be spending the holidays in Brazil this year! Which is really close to my birthday, too… If you need ideas for a little gift, there you have it! I will not bring a crib or stroller this time just to bring extra suitcases of food and gifts. Thank you!
8. Cooking is my therapy and I clearly need lots of therapy, because I obsess about food and cooking all the time.
9. By blogging about food I am hoping to “meet” and “cook” together with all of you fantastic food bloggers.
10. I should cook and blog because I have a magnet that says:

So enough of overthinking this, let’s get cooking already!