Before I loved to cook, I loved to eat. As I experienced new and delicious foods, I ​enjoyed the creativity and excitement that ​went into making them. ​I began to get a sense of my favorite flavors and their complements.

Each time I make food, it​’​s an adventure. I’m happy when I see others enjoy what I’ve created, eating far more than they intended​ because they simply can’t get enough​. It’s a pride thing. I love cooking, and the more people I can serve the better. I host several parties a year, and my goal is always to stuff my guests with delicious food​ ​–​ ​I want them to desire the taste of the yummy items on my table ​so much that they can​’t​ resist​ one more bite​.

I first decided to create a food blog when I noticed that many recipes I had Pinned, made and loved were attached to sites that were no longer available​ – I wanted to preserve those recipes, and also enhance them with my own adjustments and additions​. I also have marked​ ​up my ​(very ​well-loved) cookbooks, notebooks, and ​print-outs of recipes I’ve made and ​then ​modified​ ​– sometimes to the point ​that the initial recipe​ holds only a passing similarity to my new recipe. ​This process is part of the reason why I love to cook as much as I do – ​I ​enjoy collecting new recipes, planning my cooking extravaganzas, and rolling out the spread. It’s rare that I find a recipe that I don’t modify, and the trial and error of finding a great recipe is like polishing a gem. This site has all of my precious gems, ​and ​I hope you enjoy​ them​ as much as I do.

Kitchen mishaps sometimes occur and ​learning to resolve them has made me a more agile and competent cook. I frequently make mistakes in the kitchen, but I learn from them, and​ I’ve​ included those learnings here. ​As much as possible, I try to explain why certain tasks are needed, as well as cautionary notes for vigilance as you prepare my dishes.

A secondary reason to create this blog was to learn a bit about computer programming. The initial name of the site was “Cooking2Code,” but Effin’ Tasty was so much better that I had to switch. This site is hosted on GitHub, powered by Jekyll and Bootstrap 3.

I credit the existence of this site to my delightful boyfriend, Tyler. He is my resident photographer and tech genius extraordinaire. He uses a Sony Alpha r7 camera, with an assortment of lenses. His favorite dishes of mine is the loaded baked potato casserole (especially as leftovers), anything with corn, particularly my creamed corn and corn chowder, and (of course) anything with bacon. Additional credits to our wonderful puppies/sous chefs, Horatio and Harley. They have provided incredible support with kitchen clean-up, poison tasting and general supervision.