About the author:
Given the fact that I believe in constant evolution of who we are, I find it very difficult to summarize who I am in a sentence or two. So without writing a book, let me give it a shot:
In my previous life I received formal education as a laboratory chemist, but that life no longer belongs to me, it belongs to the past that I spent in Poland. After coming to Canada in 2000 I found myself wanting to branch out into some other unknown territory and since I’ve always been an avid enthusiast of linguistic abilities I decided to get acquainted with the French language. At that point I was already being exposed to this beautiful language, so I thought, what the heck, I’ll get a degree or two while I’m at it. I ended up with an Honours and an MA in French language, literature and culture. I tried even deeper water by starting a doctoral degree in, yes you guessed it, French. However, I put that bit on the back burner for now, but I might pick it up at a later date in my next life, or something. At some point when I was feeling comfortable with my second adopted language I started teaching it and I taught and taught and taught some more. I still do teach, but slowly and surely I find myself wanting to do something else.
Somewhere in the midway between Honours and MA I got fascinated with photography and after playing with various P&S cameras, I got my first SLR and then my second. At that point I was hooked and absolutely lost in the art of photography. And this is why I decided to append the word photographer in the name of my website. I knew I couldn’t possibly name everything that I have ever done as a human being, so I had to choose and there was no doubt in my mind that TheCookingChemist.ca would not have portrayed who I am half as well as TheCookingPhotographer.ca does. If you’re even slightly interested in my photography (some more amateur than others) you can have a peak on Flickr, Mobile Me, My iWeb galleries, Picasa, Fotogeeks and here.
In 2005 I realized that I’m hurting myself and my body by not paying attention to what I eat. Clearly, it didn’t happen overnight, but over a period of 5 years. It started when I first came to North America and conformed to the North American way of eating: large portions, heavily processed foods, foods high in saturated and trans fats, pre-packaged dinners full of preservatives and sugar etc. etc. I was happily unaware of the damage I was doing to myself, until 5 years later when I looked at a photograph taken of me and I didn’t recognize myself. It was time to do something about it, so I found a diet regime that I would stick to as a way of getting out of that hole. It took me 7 months to regain my old self, physically and mentally. Today I feel educated and liberated from the claws of big corporations that “feed” us this poisonous food. And that’s why today I also call myself a cook. I feel that unless I put an ingredient into my meal, I have no way of knowing what somebody else put in there. In a society that values money more than health it can only be taken for granted that it’s up to an individual to make sure he or she is eating well.
In the spring of 2008 a friend of mine introduced me to Oxygen and Clean Eating magazines and ever since everything that comes into my kitchen has to be CE approved. And so are all the recipes that you find on this blog.
About the blog:
I started writing this blog sometime in 2005, right around the time when I realized I was living an unhealthy life. And since then it has come through various changes, the last one being the most major one. Since the conception of the blog it was supposed to be a journal that my Polish family, who still lives in Poland, could read as a way of keeping in touch with me. I moved away, so it only made sense to provide them with the information on what was happening with me. This is why, if you look into the archives, you’ll find yourself puzzled with how to read it, unless, of course, you read Polish. It’s been almost 10 years that I’ve made North America my home and writing in Polish no longer seems fit. So as a way of reaching out to a larger audience I decided to write in English. The subject of my blog changed drastically as well. Instead of writing about what happened each day, I write about food, fitness and healthy live styles. I decided to incorporate what I do to stay healthy into my blog. So you’ll find here plenty of recipes – both my recipes and recipes found in my cookbooks.
To people who know me from my former life it might come as a surprise that I decided to make my kitchen the center of attention in this blog. The truth is, having feminist and egalitarian beliefs I never thought I’d be a domestic creature like that either. So what changed? Well, I told you about one change already: I realized I had to be in control of my food. And the second change came in a form of a handsome man by the name of Randy who sort of helped me and inspired me to transform this blog into a cooking blog. Before he came around I never truly enjoyed cooking for others, mostly because of the image from my childhood that I carried in my mind. It was an image of my mother preparing and serving food alone to a 5 member family. That image made me not want to ever be in that subservient position, so I avoided it like fire. Until last year, when I found the missing member of my team. Now cooking no longer seems like a chore or an unpaid service to others. Now cooking feels like a team effort that it is, bringing a smile to people’s faces. So, what’s the secret? It’s easy, I cook and he makes sure that there is always enough clean dishes when I need them. I briefly wrote about it here, as a contributor to FotoGeeks – Newfoundland Photographers.
A closer look at my family:
There are 3 of us:Randy, Dylan and myself.
