Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Welcome to our blog



Changing hairstyles may seem to have nothing to do with evolving cuisine trends, but don't kid yourself. What you put on the table last night (or at your last dinner party) and how you're wearing your hair these days are intimately related. Why? Because what we set out on our table and how we style our hair reflects how we’re feeling about ourselves and the ways in which we’re experiencing the world.

Think of the flattop crew-cut. Big in the uptight, well-controlled 50s, it dropped off the style map for decades once the freewheeling 60s took hold. Now, with the millennium past and our national security (and tanking economy) at stake, it's back.

A coincidence? We think not.

Consider comfort foods like macaroni and cheese, a Wonder Years favorite (and not even kissin' cousin to the packaged, trans-fat-riddled elbows the food industry dreamed up in the 80s). Real mac and cheese was nice for kids after a day of scooting under their desks at school ducking imagined Soviet missiles. It's back on the menu at some of the trendiest restaurants these days.

For some, of course, there's no such thing as trends –– food or style. These stalwart individuals have changed neither bangs nor butter substitute in years. But we're pretty sure that's not you.

Pull up a chair and we'll tell all we know about how the times have been a 'changin' for a good long time now, and inevitably how we look and what we cook have been changing right along with them.

It's all about style (food, hair and otherwise) and how they mirror the culture of our times.

Who are we to say? Not two "experts," surely. Just two experienced cooks who also happen to be professional hairdressers. Like many of you, we've raised children, fed a thousand dinner guests, had our hearts broken by empty nests and empty promises (a few of which we made ourselves), and worked a few careers to pay the piper as well as the grocery bills.

Years on, we are content with life and delighted to be able to practice some of our favorite things in the world: cooking, eating or simply talking about food.

Making a fabulous dish, we both agree, is like fashioning a perfect hairdo for the woman who will wear it. Both are among the great "mediums" in which to work one's art.

Welcome to our (somewhat interactive) style cookbook. We hope you enjoy it!

Gina and Irene

Copyright 2009 by Gina Weckle and Irene Sherlock

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hey you two, this sure looks like a lot research went into the final product! Really fun to read, keep it coming..... RP

Anonymous said...

Gina is a patient listener, which I suspect, is a quality of great cooks. She gathers information and perspective, then mixes it with her own creativity and knowledge of food, and then creates both delicious food as well as entertaining instruction for her followers. I am honored to be among a priviledged group of taste testers for Gina's wizadry..