Back to basics
It’s been a while. I wish I had some news, something interesting that kept me from writing and cooking the past few months…but I don’t.
As I’ve mentioned, I struggle with depression that rears it’s ugly head from time to time and, unfortunately, keeps me from doing what I love.
As a whole 2017 wasn’t my best year, but the last few months tore me up pretty bad.
Needless to say, my cooking and writing sufferred and I slipped further and further into the hole I’d created for myself…until Mama G’s birthday.
I was home with my brother, his wife, and Mama & Papa G (Stax was celebrating a good friend’s upcoming nupties in Ohio) for the first time in a long while and started to feel good again.

Then…we started cooking and, while this might seem a bit dramatic, I began to feel like I was putting pieces of myself back together with each new ingredient of the recipe.
I started to feel like myself again.
And it dawned on me…I was cooking with my mom. I was back cooking with the person who taught me to love food in the first place. I was back cooking in the place where I learned my first recipe…I was back to the beginning.
To be fair to Stax, who had to deal with a few more “bad” days over the next week, I didn’t really realize those things in the moment…but you get what I’m saying here, right?
Well, that got me thinking about how I could find my way back into the kitchen and in front of the computer…and I came up with a plan.
Three or so years ago, my mom and my two aunts put together a cook book of my family’s recipes. Each of the kids got the book and it’s filled with food and pictures and history…as you can imagine, I cried when I opened it. Cuz…emtions.

So here’s what I’m going to do. I’m going to go back to the beginning and cook through each of these recipes. I want to make the food that I grew up eating and that helped cultivate my passion for cooking, and hopefully I can get a bit closer to my family and The Big 4 (Grandpa, Grandma, and Great Uncle and Aunt) in the process.
I’m excited for the journey and look forward to sharing what I discover.
Kisses yall.
toddagarcia View All →
I’m an acting/improvising optimizing son of a gun.
I’ve been living and working and performing in Chicago since 2005. I love to eat, travel, talk and make people laugh. So for me this blog stuff is pretty neat.
I also like you. Whoever you are. I like you. For coming to my blog and sharing in my thoughts. I appreciate you. And I think you’re hot. So here’s to you, readers of my blog. Thanks for being awesome. Share and share a like!
Follow me on Twitter @toddawatomi and listen to my podcast with my besticle Ethan at www.ethanandtoddcast.com!