In the beginning ...

See here we are, the first real day of the 'guys guide' blog. What was the reason for the delay, let's say a difference of opinion on the appropriateness of the first blog being 'cooking pizza with my eight yr old' under 'the guys guide to the gastronomic g spot'. Ian aka the husband (me) felt it was somewhat inappropriate to have his father/daughter cooking experience discussed on anything related to the g spot.

Look for all the warm fuzzy stuff at http://bywordofmouthmusingsandmemoirs.blogspot.com/
including the aforementioned post.

After much discussion, Nicole aka the wife, decided to acquiesce (you can tell my wife is typing this on my behalf since I cannot spell acquiesce). LOL, my wife just admitted that acquiesce just came up incorrectly spelled each time she typed it too :) And if you are an atheist like me, then thank my wife's God for Spellcheck!

So what is this blog all about? It is taking the old adage that the way to a guy's heart is through his stomach, and working within my experience that the way to a women's heart (and so be the ultimate turn on) is through a man's ability and willingness to don an apron and enter the hallowed sanctuary of the kitchen.

From the moment I made my first macaroni cheese in Home Economics in my English Secondary School, the pure delight and satisfaction of preparing a roux sauce - led me down the path of discovery. There I was in a classroom of girls, myself and one guy who wanted to become a butcher - seriously. I had given up the pursuit of woodwork and metal work to become the token male within the female environment (completely ignoring the boy who wanted to become a butcher, since my imagination had me pursuing an entirely different kind of 'meat'!)

There I was, supposedly in an environment that would challenge most men's masculinity, but all I saw was opportunity. Up until this point, no woman had given me the time of day other than to enquire at what I was doing standing in their way. But one thing became abundantly clear in this class. Girls were there because they were not expected to do woodwork or metalwork, and any boy that was there was either a butcher or was gay (and I don't mean happy) Since I was neither, altho today I have several extremely stylish male friends who are, I was there of my own volition - why? At that point, I had no idea! As I walked home from school that day cradling my macaroni cheese with its golden crust of English Cheddar, moist with anticipation of savoring the first bite ... my mind wandered with the endless possibilities that this 'virgin gastronomic wannabee' would encounter.

Sitting at home that evening, listening to my Genesis and Yes LP's (as in long playing records, guess the decade) I looked back at what I viewed was a somewhat pathetic existence and realised I had awakened passion in myself, but how to satisfy this new found passion?

The next week attending class it became clear to me that the expected demographic of this class was strictly female and that was just fine by me. What to do with this newfound minority status?

The indulgence of my parents allowed me to continue to expand upon my repertoire from that first memorable dish to such culinary challenges as Cauliflower and Cheese, Quiche, Apple Pies etc and rather than have you suffer thro the litany of such bland starter cuisine - let us fast forward to the grand age of awakening at 'sweet sixteen'.

Here we are at sixteen, on a whim and profound fancy, I stuck my big toe into the world of dating! (yes, a late starter, but one who caught on rather quickly) When considering how to impress my date (and before I could open my mouth and change feet to borrow an expression of my current wife) (Nicole, the typist inserts 'nice' here) I asked my girlfriend of the time if she would like to come around for dinner. Her deeply offended response was that if I thought she was coming over to cook me dinner, I had another thing coming. And moving beyond the obvious retort here, I explained that I would be cooking for her. I used those immortal words used ever since Man has dated Woman, 'Trust me'. For those of you who wish to know what I cooked that evening, I have no damn idea. But let it be known that from that day forward, I was no longer a 'virgin gastronomic wannabee'!

So what have we achieved in this introduction? Let me recap, I am a guy, gastronomy is my definitely my favorite game ... so let me be your guide ...
Watch this 'spot'!