About Tara and SLH

About Tara
Small town life was never a thought in my mind as I grew up on Long Island, a NYC suburban area, but after moving to Connecticut almost 10 years ago, I found myself to be where I was always meant to be…in a quiet, rural New England town with old wooden fences lining rolling field, fields of summer corn that ache to be picked, and the fresh scent of manure wafting into your nostrils as you drive past the local horse farms.

I’m in my early 30s and work as a Public Health researcher at a local university.  In October 2006, I married by right-hand man in the kitchen and #1 recipe tester, Kyle.  Cooking has become a central part of our life together and we love spending time in the kitchen together testing new recipes or coming up with our own.

About Smells Like Home
Food and love.  That’s what our life together is about and Smells Like Home attempts to share this dynamic relationship with all who stop by.  I started Smells Like Home in April 2007 and have been blogging steadily ever since.  Here you’ll find a great variety of both cooking and baking recipes that have passed our kitchen tests.  I feel that sharing tried and true recipes with my readers is the best way to convey what actually goes on in our kitchen.  That said, you won’t read a lot about failed recipes here because, while they definitely happen to me, I want to share recipes that make you feel as comfortable making them as I felt in my own kitchen.

Photography
Up until February 2010, I was using a Sony Cybershot point-and-shoot camera (purchased way back in 2003) for all of my blog posts.  Some of those older photos are more painful than others but I worked with what I had and submitted photo after photo to sites like Foodgawker and Tastespotting.  Some were accepted, many were not.  But I kept chugging along with my little point-and-shoot and finally treated myself to the Canon T1i.  I purchased the camera as a kit that was sold with a basic lens and used this lens up until August 2010.  As an early birthday gift, Kyle surprised me with the Sigma 50mm f/2.8 EX DG Macro Lens for Canon cameras and slowly but surely, I’m learning to use it. You can find all of my photography recommendations here.  I edit just about all of my photos using a free online photo editing website call Picnik and have found this site to be extremely versatile and user-friendly for my current needs.

Projects
I am a member of Project Pastry Queen, a blogging group swiftly cooking and baking through Rebecca Rather’s The Pastry Queen cookbook on a weekly basis.  Posting day for this group is every Sunday.

Exposure
You can find Smells Like Home in photo galleries like Foodgawker, Tastespotting, Serious Eats’ Photograzing, DessertStalking, and Tasteologie and on:

Kathy Maister’s Startcooking.com: 10 Ways to Use Chili Peppers
The Mushroom Channel: Recipe of the Week Part Deux
TheNest: Featured Recipe of the Day
TipNut: 21 Tempting Coffee Cake Recipes
Restless Chipotle: 50 Best Cupcake Recipes on the Internet for Chunky Hubby (#4) and Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough (#20)
Ezra Pound Cake: Meatless Monday Link Love

FoodBuzz Top 9
August 27, 2010 | September 15, 2010 | December 5, 2010 | December 9, 2010 (Turkey Cranchiladas and Black and White Cranberry Tarts) | December 18, 2010 | February 4, 2011 | March 11, 2011 | March 13, 2011 | April 6, 2011 | May 17, 2011 | May 28, 2011 | June 10, 2011

Cupcakes Take the Cake: Caramel Pumpkin Pie Cupcakes and Chunky Hubby Cupcakes
Gourmet Live blog: Weekly Round-up: Creative Cocktails

Apartment Therapy’s The Kitchn
Delicious Links January 4, 2011 | June 9, 2011 | July 25, 2011
Recipe Roundup May 11, 2011

The Pioneer Woman
Web Deliciousness: Cinco de Mayo

Cookbook and Product Reviews
One of my most treasured hobbies is reading cookbooks.  I devour them from cover-to-cover when they are new and sometimes spend hours trying to finalize my weekly menus from these books.  I am currently reviewing two cookbooks that are set for release in September and October and if you have a book you would like for me to review, please contact me.

With regards to product reviews, I reserve the right to choose which products to review on this blog.  If a product falls within the scope of my interests and Smells Like Home as a whole, I will consider testing and reviewing such a product.  My review will be an honest one and I will disclose the source of the product.

Thanks for stopping by Smells Like Home!!