You're messin' with a Southern girl.

By far, one of my favorite smells in the entire world is French Toast, still simmering in the skillet. Mix in the additional smells of coffee and the hint of maple syrup (not yet poured) and that just might be the best smell, ever. Really breathe it in next time.

I've channeled the Southern Dame within and will also be making Pot Roast (tomorrow), Baked Mushroom Chicken (Friday night), and Biscuits with Sausage Gravy (Saturday morning). I have been harboring a hankering for some really good, homemade comfort food, and these seem like the ticket to happiness at the moment.

Cooking has become a huge hobby of mine lately. I've been dabbling with quick and somewhat easy meals on the weekdays, and conquering the more difficult preparations on nights when I am not exhausted ... but visiting with Norbert (over many, many glasses of red wine) on Sunday night made me that much more ready to tackle some new, more involved recipes. The three above are mine, but he always has amazing tips to share.

We had slow-cooked ribs (about 8 hours on low heat) that night with potato salad and greek salad as sides. It was a HUGE crowd-pleaser. I think I'll try it the next time we have people over to our place. I would probably make cucumber salad and a mixture of grilled vegetables on the side, though. (Only because I have a lot of successful experiences with both under my belt, and have only made German-style potato salad twice.)

Save a few meals during actual travel this past weekend, and last night when we picked up some soup and spicy chicken at our favorite Chinese-Japanese-Thai place on the way back into town (Austin) ... and I haven't eaten out ... for any meal: breakfast, lunch, or dinner (of which I always have all 3) ... in over a month. That's crazy! Once you get used to eating at home, though, the thought of eating fast food is somewhat repulsive.

The biggest added bonus of cooking at home all of the time is ... well ... aside from saving tons and tons of money and feeling a thousand times better ... is the whole weight-loss factor. Without even trying, I have somehow dropped about 8 to 10 legitimate pounds since Christmas. I didn't even notice until my family pointed it out recently. I am perfectly happy with my body (10 pounds added, even!), and have been for years, so I haven't been trying to lose weight at all. I can only attribute it to home-cooking, as nothing else has changed.

As promised, I will definitely share some recipes I've tried lately on here in the next couple of days. A lot of my friends (and some of you guys reading this) have been asking about the things I cook (because they are fairly simple and literally ANYONE can cook them ... step-by-step instructions, not leaving any detail out, are the key). Right now, however, I need to start preparing for an interview I have at 1pm. (Details later.)

In the meantime, go throw some French Toast in a skillet, if for nothing else, than to bask in the delicious smell! :) Ah, and I do hope everyone had a great weekend. I know I did! None of us wanted it to end, but, alas ... "the real world" beckons. It's a bummer sometimes, but that's just how it goes ...