Kitchen Jam

Me, 2009

im·prov n. Informal 1. Improvisation: the practice of … making and creating, in the moment and in response to the stimulus of one’s immediate environment and inner feelings.

Some cooking methods, like baking, require exact attention to every detail, specific and controlled measurements and precise temperatures and preparation times. Other methods are more flexible. While I do bake, methods which encourage improvisation are the kinds of cooking where I’m most comfortable.

That kind of cooking, aiming at riling up my tastebuds to keep life interesting, is part of the reason I spun this blog off my cancer survivorship blog, Life out Loud. Improv with food — jamming with ingredients and recipes to create something unique and in the moment out of the things available in my immediate environment — is my kitchen’s salute to jazz. Jam-making, putting up the harvest in sweet and savory spreads, requires the best of both precise science and experimentation. From jamming in my kitchen, the recipes in this blog were born.

When I launched Kitchen Jam, I wanted my first food blog to become a year-round resource for jam-making and preserving recipes. The welcome you’ve all given me since I started posting in August – your comments and support as Kitchen Jam found its voice – has been magical reinforcement for that goal.

To celebrate, I’ve created a new site for Kitchen Jam on the web, its own home where I’d have more room to expand and develop a bigger recipe and resource library. Thanks to everyone for hanging in there during my growing pains as I built the new website, proofread pages, picked a new design and stumbled through all the behind-the-scenes stuff that turns an idea into a working website. I’m still tinkering with the new, improved KJ (tweaking that may go on for quite awhile!) but I’m finally ready to share this place with everyone. And to showcase the new Kitchen Jam, please visit my first special feature, The 12 Jams of Christmas. I hope you enjoy it; it’s just the first of many special features I have planned for KJ!

I improvise aiming for food that piques my tastebuds and the rest of my senses. I hope my kitchen improv piques your tastebuds, too. Let me know if you try something or have an improv of your own to share. You can reach me at gaelen2 AT yahoo DOT com. Most of all, where ever you find yourself jammin’ with food — enjoy!