Hello World!

My friends are always asking me, "What are you cooking this weekend?"  So, I started this blog to answer that question.  I seem to have gained a reputation as a decent cook.  People seem to enjoy my food and I sure enjoy making it.  My name is Andy Manry and I'm a father of 2, and the main cook in our family.  That's right, I do the cooking, meal planning and grocery shopping.  Several people tell me that it's strange, that I, the father, do most of the cooking, but for me it's the norm.  My Dad loved cooking and he has passed that love on to me.

Dad and I grillin' and chillin' in the Outer Banks of NC

It all clicked for me on Homecoming night when I was a sophomore in high school.  Being too young to drive, my parents suggested that they would cook our entire party dinner before the dance.  This would save them a trip to the local Olive Garden and potentially, it would be much better food.  As it turns out, my Dad could cook some pretty amazing food.  What impressed me is how happy everyone was while eating the food, and that was something that I wanted to duplicate!  Ever since then, I have been slowly honing my culinary skills.  To date, one of my favorite things to do (if I'm not cooking), is to belly up to the kitchen island with a glass of wine and watch my Dad cook!

I am by no means a chef, but I do cook a lot, experiment a lot, and read cook books cover to cover.  I love to try new things, scour the grocery stores and farmers markets for interesting ingredients and try new cooking methods.

I live in the Greensboro, North Carolina area.  I am blessed to live in an area that gets fresh seafood from the coast, fresh produce from the general area and the easy access to mountains. We have great hiking trails, farmers markets and amazing restaurants all across our state. 

The purpose of this blog is to provide you with recipes that have been proven to please my family and friends.  Basically, it will answer the question, "What's Andy cooking?"  I will not update this every day, or even every week, but I will try and post as often as possible.  So, set back, grab your bamboo spoon (my favorite cooking tool) and meet me in the kitchen!