Dear WritingTime Readers,

My new blog is launched this week. Here’s the link: www.TheIntimidatedCook.com

If you know me you might be thinking that cooking is a hilarious subject for me to write about since I am not a cook, know nothing about it, and up until now did just about anything to stay out of the kitchen. I’ve cooked one company dinner for the past decade, over and over and over again, Writer’s Chicken (the recipe posted on this blog years ago). But the thing is I love having my friends and family over and one day I just got tired of always wondering what to serve and feeling intimidated about my cooking. So I decided to find some very easy, delicious recipes and never worry about what to serve again. And as I always tell my students, you write the book (or blog) that you need to read.

My family and close friends rolled their eyes when I announced this new project a few months ago. Though R. is really, really enjoying the whole thing. (The dear man has eaten Writers Chicken, salad with tuna on top, and pasta for more dinners than I’d care to say.)

What I want to do in the future is to turn this into a cookbook and I’m hoping the blog will gather enough readers to get a publisher interested. So please send the link on to any friends you think might be interested. And please! sign up to subscribe. I’ll be posting a new recipe every week. And I’d love comments and any ideas for new recipes.

With thanks to Rob Daly for all the hours and talent he put into the design of the website, all the friends who had experimental dinners at my house for the past few months and rated my meals, Myna Dyer Skinner for helping me figure out the subtitle and for the enthusiasm of a lot of friends and students for this idea. With love and gratitude –  xxoo  Barbara