No, wait, nothing nearly so vague as all of that. This is the slightly awkward first post for The Mom 100 Blog, the one where I introduce myself to you, explain who I am, why this book, why this blog, and tell you that I’m delighted you are here, and that I hope you will visit often and find recipes and musings of interest, and share your thoughts with me. All of which is true.

First, let’s skip back for a moment about two years, to the part when the idea for a cookbook called The Mom 100 Cookbook popped into my head; a cookbook that would contain (as the subtitle now informs you) One Hundred Recipes Every Mom Needs to Have in Her Back Pocket. Having been in the cookbook business for a long while before writing my own, I can tell you that this was a bit startling, since the general idea usually comes first, then you wrestle the title into place. But this time the title smacked itself down, complete with a subtitle, and I thought, yeah, hmm, it would be kind of cool to have a book with one hundred reliable, appealing go-to recipes that dealt with the most common feeding-families-and-kids situations that we moms (and yes, dads, too) face day in, day out. Then I went about my usual business.

But just at that very moment, my long time friend and cookbook editor extraordinaire Suzanne Rafer took me to lunch and said, “You know, I think you should write a cookbook.” In the first and only sports metaphor you will likely hear me present, I felt like this was much akin to having (insert name of any legendary coach of any legendary sports team here) tell me I should pick up (insert name of correlating popular sport). So I told her the idea, she said, let’s go, and…

Two years later, the book is arriving in the stores, I am about to be shipped off on a book tour, and people are saying very encouraging things, and media is being booked. I am excited, scared, and completely unable to predict what happens next.

So, what you will find here is me talking about cooking for families and friends and kids (and sometimes complaining about the aforementioned), sharing new recipes, some recipes from the book, lists of things I like or want to try, and so on. And hoping to talk with all of you.

In summary: life is messy and complicated and highly inconvenient at times, and we should stop imagining that it’s not. But let’s all cut ourselves some slack and try to capture some fun while we’re in the kitchen, cooking for our families. Here’s the thing: we have to do it anyway. So, let’s shake it off, link virtual elbows with each other as comrades in arms, and see if we can’t make this into something to feel good about.