Welcome to Salty Sour Spicy Sweet. If it has ever occurred to you that you might have an unhealthy relationship with food, you're about to feel a lot better about yourself. Somewhere along the line, cooking and food snuck waaaay up on our list of priorities. So far up, in fact, that important stuff like work, reality television and our our own well-being were replaced by things like farmers' markets, our quest for the region's finest charcuterie and Beth's new pasta maker. We've designed our blog to bring you our favorite recipes and deepest food-related musings, as well as a bit of inspiration ... food is sustenance, food is sharing and food is love, but it is not brain surgery. So put down that take-out menu and cook something. We've already done all the obsessing for you.

And, lest you think this is all about us, we really want to hear from you ... a lot! We're not here to offer restaurant reviews or critique the pros (although we might from time to time). We're all about the home chef. We are in this for the simple love of food in the most everyday settings (seriously, you should see our kitchens; together, they are the size of a reasonable master bath). We promise to keep the recipes coming as long as you promise to try them. Hope you're hungry! We can't eat all of this by ourselves!

Prosciutto & heirloom tomatoes,
Beth & Kristin

And now, a few words about the bloggers.

Meet Beth:
My name is Beth, coauthor of Salty Sour Spicy Sweet, and I've always loved to eat and cook. To my parents' delight I always out-ate my older brothers. My mom has many stories of my childhood eating, including one where I was served only one slice of pizza at a birthday party. I mean, the one slice seems like the most ridiculous part of the story, but that's not the point. As the other children ran off to play I stayed back to help clean up by eating all the pizza crusts left by my friends. I was 15. HA! No, no, I was 4 years old.

My interest in food took a break in college, as I needed to concentrate on cheap wine, chain-smoking and bad take-out. I'm sure many of you can relate. As I got older, and I had my own kitchen and a few dollars to spend on groceries, my passion for food developed. It helped to have a foodmate like Kristin. Our friendship began in the summer of 1998. We had lots in common like drinking and eating, and a few other things like, um ... I can't remember. We drank a lot. But from there we started our culinary journey with discussions of all things food, from scrapple to oysters. We love it all.

Meet Kristin:
As Beth mentioned, my name is Kristin and I too used to eat microwaved things after consuming excessive quantities of cheap booze. But, all along, I knew better. I was raised by a woman who made her own Bisquick and, for a time, baked all of our bread from scratch, God love her. I don't think I ingested a store-bought cookie until I was old enough to go to school or stay at a friend's house. I was probably the only 12 year-old in my sixth grade class who could appreciate the finer points of a raw bar. Upon my arrival at college, I was shocked to find that things like Rice-A-Roni and Kraft Mac-n-cheese were actually eaten by people I knew. Lots of them! Frightened by some of my roommates' abusive relationship with Heinz Ketchup, I folded and let the microwaves wash over me.

Also like Beth, I have matured and, while some cheap booze still sneaks its way in every now and again, my microwaving days are behind me. I can nearly pinpoint the moment when my attitude towards food shifted. Shortly after college, I sat in a particularly elegant bar and watched Beth dribble an arrabiatta sauce, redolent with crab meat, down the front of her white shirt and I had an "A-ha!" moment. This was food as it should be! So, my pockets falsely heavy from waiting tables, I began to dabble in food snobbery. It was no big deal at first ... a simple shunning of national chain restaurants, a sudden interest in upscale kitchen wares, a casual curiosity about brioche. Fast forward a few years and here I am -- a full-blown junkie. Don't judge! When I say snob, I don't mean a truffle-hoarding, champagne-swilling bore (although who hasn't hoarded some truffles?). I mean that I want food to be the best it can be, whether it's a french fry or a perfectly seared baby lamb chop. And what I really want is to make it myself and then feed it to people and have them swoon just a little. Is that so much to ask?

We're really looking forward to sharing our favorite recipes and indulgences with all of you! Please be in touch...there will be recipes, laughs and more soon!