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We moved from NJ to the Manchester, VT area as newlyweds in 1989. For the 6 months, we had no friends. We worked with people, but our co-workers weren’t people could go out with for food and drinks.

Basically, all the “friends” we had were bartenders. Yes, we made friends by tipping them 20%. We always sat at the bar and ate our dinner. Sometimes we talked with other bar patrons, but they were all from Jersey, we wanted VT friends. It made us feel welcome that the bartenders remembered what we drank, what our names were, or what kind of food we always ordered. Nachos…basically the only thing we could afford. Sounds like Cheers. 😜

We met one bartender named Heidi. I loved when Heidi worked because she was a pastry chef on the side and we would talk about her desserts and pastries. She mentioned one night something about that she could tell the difference between yellow and white butter. Huh????

I couldn’t imagine how you could tell the difference except one was white and the other was yellow. I didn’t ask because she was a new ” friend ” and I didn’t want to appear like a dummy.

It took me about 20 years to finally understand what she meant! I had a big ah-ha moment! There was a difference in taste! The yellow one was so much better. A French or Irish butter was even better than American ones.

When I was a kid growing up in the 1970’s I watched a lot of tv. I knew every commercial by heart. As I watched some of them I didn’t know if my mother bought butter or margarine, but I loved the margarine commercials. Hell, it had to be better stuff since there weren’t any butter commercials. Little did I know.

The two most popular commercials were for Parkay and Chiffon. I liked the Parkay one because the tub of margarine talked to anyone who lifted the lid. I remember wishing ours did that and I tried a million times to get it to talk.

Chiffon was the famous commercial “It’s not nice to fool Mother Nature”, another fun one to watch and wait for the thunder and lightning to start. I didn’t want my mother to buy that one though so that advertising had an adverse effect on my young mind.

The other thing I remember about margarine was going to both my grandmother’s houses. On any given day there would be about 10 little margarine tubs in the refrigerator. It took forever to actually figure out what one had the margarine in it. I would open the lids and take peaks until I found the right one. Sometimes I would close my eyes and try to figure out what was in those containers. Beets were a hard one to get and clean too I would imagine. For big leftovers, Cool Whip containers were saved for that purpose.

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So what the heck is the difference between butter and margarine?

Margarine is an artificial butter. It can be made from vegetable oil or animal fat. It may contain skimmed milk, salt, and emulsifiers. – Wikipedia

Margarine was invented by a French chemist in the late 1860’s as a challenge from Napoleon III. Farmers were outraged that the price of margarine was so low, at some point The Margarine Tax Act was passed for a short time making the cost the same.

So what’s the difference between yellow and white butter?

Butter is made from cow’s milk. It is made by churning milk or cream to separate the fat from the buttermilk. White butter comes from cows that are fed corn, while yellow comes from cows that are grass-fed. It seemed to me at first that the corn fed should be yellow, but that’s not the case. The grass and flowers that cows eat contain beta-carotene which stays in the fat making the butter yellow. The flavor difference is that the yellow butter is high in omega 3. Some companies have tried tricking their customers by adding beta-carotene & Omega 3 to their butter. That’s artificial folks, but not as artificial as margarine.

In some recipes, you see calling for clarified butter. It is that delicious little cup of drawn butter you get with your lobsters. Wear the bib, butter does not come out of clothing. LOL

Clarified butter is made by melting butter and allowing the components to separate by density. The water evaporates, some solids float to the surface and are skimmed off, and the remainder of the milk solids sink to the bottom and are left behind. The butter is poured into a separatory funnel or gravy fat separator. – Wikipedia

While I am at it I may as well mention Ghee since I love cooking and eating Indian food. Ghee is difficult to make. I myself would buy ghee and never even attempt to try to make it. I know, never say never.

So today has been a butter-filled day for me. It reminded me of Heidi the bartender that originally sparked my interest in butter. I wonder what happened to her and if she is still baking.

I love that both my boys Noah and Sam like to cook. When Noah still lived at home and Sam was away at college, Noah, Marty, and I would have cooking challenges. Our favorite was who can get a perfect medium-rare cook on their steak, whose steak was seasoned properly and was all the fat on the sides of the steak rendered out?  We were using the sear and finish in the oven cooking method. It was fun and delicious. We would all taste each other’s and rate them.  All three of our steaks were different in subtle ways.

Sam has his own apartment at college this year and has become quite the cook. He uses recipes I taught him and experiments with recipes on his own. He mentioned he was using a whisk to try to make compound butter because he didn’t have a food processor.  He wanted to make whipped compound butters. 

Just before Sam left to go back to nursing school, I got him an inexpensive mini food processor, he was very excited. Of course, I loved seeing his reaction. 

He surprised us by coming home the other night. He wanted to spend a couple of days in VT.  Once school starts on Tuesday they will be going for 16 weeks straight and he probably won’t be coming home.

He came with a little cooler, he brought things for us to sample. He brought a container of “sauce” that he made on Sunday.  Sunday sauce was tomato sauce with sausage or meatballs that cooked all day to develop flavor. 

Marty and I tasted his sauce and let me tell you what….it was pretty damn close to mine.  I was proud as a peacock.  Next, he had us try some compound butters he made with his mini food processor.

He made a garlic herb one for garlic bread on Sunday but ate that one already.  Lol, He brought two different ones for us to try, brown sugar and cinnamon and peanut butter and butter. “These are delicious on my waffles!” He told us. They were delicious. A chip off the old block!

A 20 year old is making compound butters? He tried a bunch of them when I was experimenting with them for my cooking class.  When I introduced compound butters to everyone at class I was hoping they all didn’t think I was nuts pushing butter on them.

Compound butters can be sweet or savory. I prepped ahead a slew of ingredients so each person could make their own to take home. It was fun to see what kinds each of them chose to make. Some definitely had a sweet tooth, some went with safe ones and others were a bit more daring. 

We didn’t use food processors in class. We used very soft butter that was easy to mix just with a fork. The butter is rolled into a log when it is still soft using plastic wrap, waxed paper or parchment paper. It can be kept in the refrigerator to use whenever you want to or you can freeze it and defrost it when you need it. You just slice off a little bit and get a huge bang of flavor.

So what do you use it for?  This is the fun part and helps you decide what kind you want to make.  A garlic herb or cowboy butter is delish melted on steaks.  A pesto butter is fantastic on pasta or a baked potato. A lemon herb butter is delicious melted on chicken or fish.  A honey butter or brown sugar and cinnamon, pumpkin pie, or gingerbread butter is delicious on pancakes, waffles, quick breads, popovers, cornbread, bagels, etc. The possibilities are endless!

Anyone can make compound butters, even children since they are so quick and super easy!  You just need some softened butter, a few ingredients and a little creativity. 

I am so excited to share some of my compound butter recipes with you.  It’s almost embarrassing how easy they are. If you want to impress people at your next dinner party or bbq, just whip out a log of compound butter and cut up slices for everyone to use.  I promise you will get rave reviews! 

Last thing… compound butters make wonderful hostess gifts. Just be creative how you want to package it. My favorite way is to make it look like candy like I did in the photo below. You may even want to include the recipe on a small card attached to the butter, or you may just want to keep the recipe to yourself. LOL

Compound Butter Recipes

I use salted butter in all of my compound butter recipes. You don’t need expensive butter, a store brand will do for these recipes. I urge you to use salted butter even in the sweet butter recipes. Salt brings out the flavor of anything you make including sweet items.

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If you have issues with sodium, then by all means use sweet butter for your compound butter recipes, you can add just a pinch or leave it out altogether.

For all of the butter combinations: Put the softened salted butter into a medium bowl, add the ingredients of your choice, mix well with a fork, shape into a log on a sheet of waxed paper, parchment paper, or plastic wrap. Roll up or wrap tightly. Refrigerate until firm or freeze. Slice and put butter on whatever you desire.

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Savory

Lemon Herb Butter

1 stick of butter – 1/2 cup
2 Tbsp lemon zest
1 tsp fresh lemon juice
1 Tbsp finely chopped fresh rosemary
1 Tbsp finely chopped thyme

Garlic Herb Butter

1 stick of butter – 1/2 cup
2 cloves of garlic minced
3 Tbsp fresh parsley chopped
1 1/2 Tbsp each fresh chopped herbs of your choice: basil, oregano, rosemary, chives
1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper

Chili Lime Butter

1 stick of butter -1/2 cup
2 tsp chili powder
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper or to you taste
Zest of 1 lime
1 tsp lime juice
1-2 Tbsp fresh chopped cilantro optional

Cowboy Butter

1 stick of butter – 1/2 cup
1 Tbsp lemon zest
1 Tbsp lemon juice
2 cloves garlic minced
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
1 Tbsp dijon mustard
1 Tbsp chopped fresh parsley
1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper

Bleu Cheese Butter

1 stick butter – 1/2 cup
4 ounces bleu cheese at room temp
*Optional add chopped fresh herbs such as parsley, thyme, rosemary, tarragon, chives, or garlic

Curry Masala Butter

1 stick butter – 1/2 cup
1 Tbsp yellow curry powder
1 tsp garam masala
1 tsp marjoram optional

Thai Basil and Lime Butter

1 stick butter – 1/2 cup
1/2 lime zested
1/2 tsp 5 spice powder
pinch red pepper flakes optional

Thai Red Curry Butter

1 stick butter -1/2 cup
2 tsp red curry paste
1 tsp peeled and grated fresh ginger
1/2 lime zest
1 tsp lime juice
3 Tbsp chopped fresh cilantro

Sweet

Orange Honey Butter

1 stick butter – 1/2 cup
1 Tbsp honey
2 tsp finely grated orange zest

***Optional add 2 Tbsp of dried chopped cranberries

Brown Sugar & Cinnamon Butter

1 stick butter – 1/2 cup
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 tsp cinnamon

Gingerbread Butter

1 stick butter – 1/2 cup
1 Tbsp molasses
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp sugar or to taste
1/8 tsp cloves
1/8 tsp nutmeg

Maple Butter

1 stick butter – 1/2 cup
1/4 cup real maple syrup preferably darker grade

Pumpkin Spice Butter

1 stick butter – 1/2
1/8 cup pumpkin puree
1 Tbsp honey
1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice or more if desired

Before I even actually started this blog I already knew a few things that I wanted and things I didn’t.  I didn’t know how to do any of them, or even where to begin.

I look at a lot of food blogs daily and their recipes.  Enough of them to notice things that I like and things that I absolutely hate. 

I like when someone tells a story then provides a recipe they have experimented with, tweaked and felt it was ready to share with the world. The blog post is easy to read with nice photos to break up the writing. Their recipe is provided at the bottom. The recipe is correct. The recipe is their own. 

What don’t I like? Well, let’s start with ads!  I hate having ads pop up while I am trying to read. I hate when the blogger’s own videos start popping up. It interrupts my reading and I have to stop to and X out of the ads and videos so I can continue reading. The third one that pops up and I am out of there. I don’t give a damn who’s blog it is or how good their recipe may have been. So annoying! 

Here’s the thing that I think is unethical, copy and pasting a recipe from someone else and calling it your own. These are professional bloggers!  That my friends is stealing and a bunch of bullshit.  If you are going to steal the recipe at least change the wording for Pete’s sake. So not only are you a scumbag, but a lazy scumbag. 

How do I know they are stealing? Like I said I read a lot of recipes. I will always go to a reputable source like Bon Appetite, Williams Sonoma, Tasty, New York Times recipes or King Arthur Flour, etc. to see what their recipes are like.  My short rib recipe I’ve been using for years I found at the Food & Wine magazine’s website. 

Then I start looking at the big food bloggers, all of their recipes are similar but still are written in the bloggers own cooking style, using their favorite ingredients and culinary language. The smaller food bloggers or the wanna-be’s you know the lazy scumbags, just blatantly copy and paste. This makes me so angry I shout at my phone when I see it. 🤬

The first thing we did when we set up my blog is to pay for my domain name, along with a hosting site and no ads for a year. A year? Gulp!  This was a big commitment. I was afraid to spend this much money for a whole year and I didn’t even know if my blog would be good or if anyone would read it.  As I wrote more posts I decided I wanted to use Grammarly, another 1 year expensive, but totally worth every penny.

All of my recipes that I will ever post will be my own recipes. If I ever share a recipe that isn’t mine, I will just give the link and let the owner of the recipe get credit. I feel very passionate about this.  Ha, it gets my “Jersey” up. I grew up in NJ, “You can take the girl out of Jersey, but not the Jersey out of the girl.” 

My recipes are a true labor of love. I really want people to be able to try what took me sometimes years to perfect. Even just typing it up correctly takes a great deal of time. I’m not talking about the actual typing, but the proper and correct ingredients, measurements, and instructions. 

Support can be beautiful, yes that was a bra commercial from my childhood but also brings me to the next part. My ad-free blog and my recipes are all free to everyone. You can share my recipes or blog posts. The more people who read it the merrier!  You can subscribe and receive it by email or you can read it on my Julzie Style Facebook page. I really appreciate how many people have subscribed or liked my Julzie page. It’s so exciting! 

We have added a support my blog option on my page. I am not doing this blog to make money, I am doing it because I have a lot to say, teach and share. I don’t expect people to support my blog, it is my blog and I assume the financial responsibility.  It is not my style to ask for things, I am a giver, not a taker. The support pays me for my time spent creating food, research, writing recipes, and my stories. 

People tell me all the time I would buy a cookbook if you had one.  I’d sign up for cooking lessons, I would pay you to cook for me.  If you are enjoying my blog, learning something new, or using my recipes, if you want to or able to make a small donation there is a safe PayPal place where you can.  You will see a support my blog section on the sidebar.  I understand that everyone can’t, especially during this pandemic.  Most importantly please don’t feel like it’s necessary just to read my blog.

I hated the thought of asking people to support my blog, but then I remembered when we danced at free gigs we always put out a tip basket.  We really appreciated it when people who watched or videotaped our performance put a buck or two into the tip basket.  Musicians put out a guitar case or tip jar.   Support can be beautiful especially when you know your subscribers are enjoying what you are doing.

I mentioned that I belly danced.  I know people imagine a sheer outfit with sequins and lots of veils dancing the way people think belly dancers dance.  They also think we should look like belly dancers should look like.  Wrong! 

I started belly dancing in April 2003.  The style that we dance is called American Tribal Bellydance or ATS®️.  Our style is group improvisation meaning we don’t choreograph.  It’s a very strong and empowering dance form. Anyone, no matter what your age, size, gender or ability can learn and dance our style. 

We learn dance steps and cues then basically follow the leader. We can dance the same song over and over and it will never be the same.  It’s organic and fun.  Full of surprises since you literally don’t know what’s going to happen next.  I’ve been teaching classes for 17 years and love it.

A lot of women have come and gone over the last 17 years.  Some of our students have been with us for as long as 14 years, others for 3 + years.  These are the dedicated ones, the ones that were hooked after their first class like I was.  

Our troupe Bennington Beledi Tribal Bellydance is special because our troupe is a sisterhood of dancers.  Dance sisters who have to trust each other since we are dancing improv.  Dance sisters to lift each other up.  Sisters that chose dance moves when they are in the lead spot that make everyone look good.  We Support each other outside of dance as well.  We are very lucky to have this sisterhood. 

We are a multi level troupe which means everyone is at a different stage and ability and it’s your job to remember who you are dancing with.  Everyone progresses at a different rate, so there’s a lot to keep in mind when you you are dancing.  How much do they know, what are they good at and what moves should you not do.  It’s a responsibility and no one leads until they are ready. Our dance form is difficult to learn and even harder to learn to lead with the right cues.  No egos are allowed in our dance studio.  People who have had them didn’t last long. 

Sounds like something fun to be a part of right??  What’s really special is that I have been dancing with my dance partner Kathleen for almost 18 years in August.  Our dance style is practiced world wide, so the amazing thing is we can dance with anyone in the world without rehearsing. 

Kathleen moved to Vermont from California and was pretty surprised to see that a little town like Bennington, VT had ATS®️ Dance.  She had been dancing and performing ATS ®️ for 8 years.  She studied with Fat Chance Belly Dance, where our style of dance originated and was created by a woman named Carolena Nericcio.  Kathleen attended a performance of ours and was able to start dancing with us the following week. 

Kathleen and I are part of the professional dance troupe called The Sahidi Sisters. At one time there were 7 of us. We had tons of gigs and loads of fun. We are the last two Sahidi Sisters standing. We’ve been dancing and performing together as a duet for the last 3 years. 

I get to dance with Kathleen on Monday mornings.  During covid we are keeping up our advanced skills and timing, but mostly we just want to dance our asses off. 

We teach classes on a weekly basis, but covid has changed that.  Our students still do get a chance to dance together via zoom.  I am not a zoom girl, but enjoy having FaceTime dance sessions with some of my students. 

Below is a video of the Sahidi Sisters from 2011. I wanted to share this performance so you can see the magic of 6 women dancing completely improvisational. This is one of my favorite performances.

I can’t even count the amount of gigs we have done over the years, places we have been, hours we’ve danced together, laughed and cried.  We have memories galore, stories to tell and have been through a lot together. 

As dance sisters we can read each other’s minds not only when we dance but when we teach as well. We teach classes together, each of us using our unique strengths to cover different dance moves. 

As people we are complete opposites. Our personalities are extreme opposites.  We both have very big personalities and are big hams when we are performing.  Our past performances are all on our YouTube channel, it’s great that we have them to look back on.  I like to see how much we have improved technique wise.

I can’t wait until Kathleen and I can hold our regular classes again. Without masks or standing 6 feet apart. We want to dance with our students and start rehearsing for things.  I miss all of my dance sisters and never imagined we ever go this long without dancing together.  Belly dance has been such a huge part of my life, I just want this stupid virus to go away already. 

I wrote about banana etiquette a week or so ago.  I haven’t thought about it since I wrote it and I am still peeling my bananas from the top. 

Today at the bank out of the blue, the girls at the bank told me that two out of three of them peel their bananas from the bottom and they like that it has a handle. The third girl peels hers from the top like me. 

I asked Kelly if she was a left handed thinker and if Amanda was too. She said “I don’t really know”.  I quickly asked her if she was more analytical, was good at math and science and not artistic. She laughed and said yes, then added Amanda was too. So my theory about left handed thinkers being bottom peelers was proving to be correct. 

Here is what sealed the deal…when I asked if Katie the top peeler was artistic Kelly laughed again and said she was. I let out a big squeal of laughter and said I knew it! I asked if it was ok if I wrote about them and they said yes.

So there you have it folks…left handed thinkers and right handed thinkers peel their bananas differently. One likes a handle and the other didn’t give a rats ass about having a handle or not. 

I did some reading up on bottom peelers and apparently this is how moneys eat their bananas. 🙈🙉🙊 LOL

When we started our business The Vermont Spatzle Company, we worked 7 days a week. We worked a lot, but wanted to grow and establish our business. It was hard work, but we had fun and met hundreds of people. We called it sharing the Spatzle love.

We made product on weekdays and did farmer’s markets on Saturdays and Sundays. Most of markets were at least an hour away so that was 2 hours of traveling per market every weekend. Marty did a 500 mile wholesale delivery route for the first 2 years, every other week. We were crazy at one point and were doing 5 markets a week, along with growing our wholesale business.

I love making our product and I like doing markets. The problem was that on Sundays I was tired. We did the Schenectady market which required getting up at before 5 am. Pack up all of our coolers and supplies for the Spatzle booth. Schenectady is about 1 hour and 20 minutes from our place. The market ran from 10-2. By the time we packed up, drove home and unloaded it was almost 4:30 pm. We were exhausted every Sunday night.

The Sunday market was a lot of fun and we had fantastic customers. After 2 years I started getting burned out. I started feeling resentful that everyone I waited on either came from church or breakfast out. They were heading to brunch or a show at Proctors Theatre where the market was held. Some people were going home to watch football or to just watch “Netflix & chill”.😜

I realized how much I missed my Sundays. I started hating the market. I wanted to stay home and sip coffee on my front porch, make a big breakfast, make an elaborate Sunday dinner or just sit on the couch in my pj’s. These were’t things that a new business owner got to do. I needed to work and not complain about it.

We decided to take a Sunday off in the late fall. We sipped coffee, ate breakfast, ate dinner, sat on the couch and really enjoyed ourselves. Later in the week, Marty made a suggestion that we discussed at length. “We aren’t getting any younger” he started off saying. I saw how much you enjoyed your Sunday doing all your favorite things. I agreed to both and admitted that I hated working on Sundays, 7 days a week. He felt the same way and did a cost and profit analysis. What was it worth working 7 days a week? How much did it cost and how much did we make?

At the end of our conversation we decided that unless we wanted to burn ourselves out and miss spending time with our family, we needed to take our Sundays back. I was overjoyed at first, then I started to worry about disappointing our customers and what the people at the market thought of us. Were we just being lazy? I had butterflies in my stomach when Marty drafted the letter to the board of the farmers market, telling them we wouldn’t be returning. They understood completely, but were sad and would miss us. I was relieved and would miss everyone for sure.

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Sundays are my favorite day again! We aren’t burned out, we are ready to get back into production and start a new week. I love my Sundays and I don’t feel bad or guilty about it anymore. A Sunday kind of love.🥰

A funny thing happened during this whole covid pandemic; I learned to be on the journey and not the destination. Back in March, when everything was shut down, I was in shock like the rest of the world. I’m sure almost everyone can relate to some of the intense emotions I went through. Fear, anxiety, sadness, disbelief, anger, you know what I mean.

One afternoon my younger son Sam, who was sent home from college, watched me freaking out. Then he pointed out the most profound thing. “Your problem is you are always looking towards the destination, and never enjoy the journey.”

I started thinking about what he said and he was right! Whenever we drove somewhere on a trip, I would be looking at the clock and doing the math trying to figure out what time we would arrive. Then when GPS came along, I wanted to prove it wrong and get there faster. I never looked at the scenery, or enjoyed a pit stop lunch.

Whenever I started something new, I would be so impatient. I wanted to be good at whatever it was it right away. I observed my dance students on their journey of learning to belly dance. It was such a beautiful thing to watch. How they learned and improved, slowly over time. I didn’t do anything slowly. I didn’t savor anything. This needed to change.

I decided that if I am going to be quarantined and be home all the time, I was going to learn to make it a journey. It was tough the first couple of months trying to not keep thinking about the destination we all wanted. This covid nightmare to just disappear.

After a lot of work I realized “Hey look at me! I am on a journey!” We painted all the dark rooms in our home because “someday” I wanted a house that was light, bright and airy. A few gallons of paint took care of that. We built an outdoor kitchen because if I was going to be cooking so much, it would be nicer to cook outside. We enjoyed our summer for the first time in years.

Once it started getting colder out, I was restless indoors. At that point I became extremely angry and frustrated. I was really missing my dance classes. I needed to blow off some steam. I went up to our gym and started working out again. I haven’t been in the gym for almost 7 years. I guess it was the right time to get back into shape. Another step along the journey.

Then a couple weeks ago my friend Heather suggested starting a blog. I’ve thought about it for years, but never wanted to do it. My Facebook page was good enough. Then I thought “wake up stupid” this is the right time since I am still home all the time and bored to death. By the end of the day, I was fully committed. I didn’t expect to have it come together so quickly. It happened naturally with a lot of help from Marty. Now instead of watching one dumb tv show after another, I write.

I chose my new tag line “A journey of cooking and living my way” because that’s what this blog means to me. This is where I am right here and right now. Thanks so much for coming along for the ride!

I just changed the tag line of my blog. I realized after speaking with my writing mentor Jon Katz, I needed to let my readers who don’t know me personally, figure out what my blog is all about. Jon said that the name “Julzie Style” suggests fashion. I can totally see that now.

Jon Katz is a an accomplished author, writer, teacher, reporter & photographer. Jon has written for some of the biggest publications…ever! Wikipedia can tell you all about him.

Since 2007 Jon has been busy with his own extremely successful blog titled “Bedlam Farm Journal”. If I knew how to do a URL link I would to his blog, but I am not there yet. Jon has been such a tremendous help, I appreciate the time he is taking to shape me into being a better writer. He is direct and so am I so we get along great!

Julzie Style refers to how I live my life. I do things my way; if it’s cooking, the way I dress or wear my hair. I also have my own style when I bellydance or when it comes to costuming. I listen to music that definitely would not be for everyone. Julzie style is how I talk or teach dance & cooking. Basically how I live my life as Julz.

I only found my “Julzie Style” about 12 years ago. People who know me personally know that my actual adopted name is Kathleen or Kathy. Truth be told I never felt like a Kathy. It always sounded funny to me. I didn’t like how it sounded when people sang happy birthday to me when I was a kid. I had a lot of nicknames from my friends and from Marty which was fine with me.

Let me tell you about Kathy. Kathy was a girl that felt like she had to be perfect all the time. That is why I am one of the biggest perfectionists around. I am very very hard on myself. I grew up thinking I had a debt to repay, to show my appreciation, maybe by being perfect would do it. Kathy did whatever she needed to do to try to please her parents especially her mother.

I was never able to forget I was adopted because until this day, I am still introduced as my parents adopted daughter Kathy. The day I was lucky enough to be adopted and join my parents lives has always been referred to as the day they “got me”. Even as a kid I remember thinking “got me”? It was like being other things to get like a new pocketbook or coat. I still hate it, but I have never said anything. Unless you are an adopted person you won’t get it.

Finally, I realized that nothing I ever did or will do in the future would be enough to repay the debt. I needed to stop being that needy little “adopted “girl who just wanted to be like a “real” daughter with no guilt or something to prove. It took the last straw on the camel’s back to make me want to be who I wanted to be. I wanted to shed the old Kathy and leave behind all the old baggage. I was not a Kathy, I was something more special than that. I was this sparkling, confident , outgoing woman. I can light up a room if I want to. I was a performer who performed regularly. I needed a name that filled all those things. It took me two years to find a name that I finally resonated with…Julz.

Marty and my sons, my belly dance sisters and people who really knew me made it a point to immediately start referring to me as Julz. It was weird at first, no one thinks it’s weird when we change our last name when we get married, but first name?

I decided that I was going to go by Julz 100 % all the time. People at work started to call me Julz and the transition was actually pretty easy. The dance world got it completely. The people who didn’t get and still don’t get it call me Kathy. My insides cringe when I hear it. Sometimes since it’s been so long, I don’t even realize they are talking to me. I tried to correct a couple people who know me for a long time, but they said they could never call me Julz or that they forget. They even type Kathy on my Julz Facebook page. Please don’t refer to me with a name at all then, that would be better.

I haven’t changed my name legally yet. I’ve been making up excuses. The little needy girl doesn’t want to hurt her adopted mother who named her Kathy. She hates the name Julz so out of respect to her I go by Kathy at the care facility she is at. On legal documents I am still Kathleen and keep thinking what a pain in the ass it would be to change power of attorney, mortgage, my license & passport. The medical world also still knows me as Kathy. Except my new doctor at Dartmouth Hitchcock, Dr. Coburn, found out I preferred Julz and made a special note in my chart for everyone to refer to me as Julz!

A couple years ago I found out in therapy that I was suffering with attachment disorder. I have been afraid that if I wasn’t perfect people would not want me around. This was profound and I finally had answers to why I was who I was for all those years.

This was an extremely hard piece for me to write, but when I said that my blog was going to honest and authentic I meant it. To not explain why and what “Julzie style” is would be a lie and a shame.

This blog is my next step on my journey and I am excited to be sharing it with everyone. So listen up…my name is Julz!!!! Julzie dances to her own drum!

I have taught lots of beginners how to cook, but I really love teaching people how to become better cooks. It’s my favorite kind of adult cooking classes to teach. It took me a long time to figure out these simple hacks. Before I even start, I want to say that the biggest way to save time and stress is to read the recipe that you are going to make first. Before you do anything, read the recipe all the way through so there won’t be any surprises when it is time to cook. Let’s start!

Before you start to prep anything get yourself a prep bowl. It can be any kind of bowl. It can even be a disposable container. It doesn’t have to be pretty, mine was a gift from my father in law and I use it every day. Keeping a prep bowl on your kitchen work space saves time, energy and a mess. Think of how many times you run back and forth to the garbage can. This stupid little thing will shock you how much time it saves. On big cooking days I empty mine two or three times.

Start with a clean kitchen and clean as you go. I cannot stress this enough. Starting any project with a mess makes the whole cooking experience overwhelming and you haven’t even started cooking yet. Take the time and do it. You will notice a difference.

Prep ahead as much as you can and your time spent cooking will be a breeze. Mise en place is a culinary term meaning to prep. If you watch cooking shows they always have everything in little bowls ready to go. This is when you chop, dice, measure your ingredients in your recipe. Then just like the magic of tv, you will be making dinner effortlessly like they do on your favorite cooking program. Maybe not quite in the beginning, but you will get better at it.

I know I know you don’t have time to prep, you are busy. You can prep anytime and you can do it instead of being on social media. Well it’s true. Even taking only 10 minutes you can get things prepped. You don’t have to prep all at once. When my kids were small I would do little things at a time, so when dinner came it was quick and easy.

Speaking of quick and easy, think about what is a weeknight meal and what is a weekend meal. I’m sure if any of my adult cooking students are reading this they are having flashbacks to me saying this over and over in class. For example a pork tenderloin cooks quickly and can be prepared and ready in less than 30 minutes. Great for a Tuesday night dinner. Make 2 and have leftovers for lunch. A pork roast which requires a longer cook time, may be less stressful on a Saturday night. Sundays are a great day to cook a lot and use these meals during the week or planning leftovers from your main dish. That’s another blog post.

If you want to try to experiment with a harder recipe let’s say a porchetta, do it on a day you actually have the time and energy. It should be a pleasant, fun learning experience. If it doesn’t come out? Again that another blog post of how I am when things don’t turn out how I want them to. Ask my family. LOL

I haven’t mentioned crockpot cooking for a reason and don’t get mad at me. Crockpot cooking requires little effort and skill since most recipes are dump and go. Anyone can make a meal in a crockpot or an instant pot, we are talking about wanting to be a better cook. Better cooks braise their meats for example. Better cooks also develop flavor during the cooking process and not just season once.

What’s the difference between dollar store herbs and spices or bulk ones you find in a health food store or kitchen specialty shop? We are lucky to have a place called The Market Wagon near us. These spices are fresh, sold in small quantities and are inexpensive. I passed around dollar store spices and fresh bulk ones and my students were surprised. One person didn’t know that bay leaves had a smell or that all the different kinds of paprika tasted differently.

If you don’t have a place to buy spices, at least do me a favor. Go through your spice cabinet and look at how old some of your spices are. If spices are old, they lose all their potency and flavor. If they were cheap to begin with, it happens even sooner. How long do you think they sat on the store shelf before you bought them? The herbs and spices I get have the date they were packaged on.

Unless you are doing lots of big batch cooking don’t get sucked into buying those large commercial kitchen containers. You know what ones I am talking about. You will never go through it quick enough, back to the losing flavor and potency thing. Caring about every ingredient that goes into your dishes will make them more delicious, making you a better cook. Good ingredients = good results.

Sharpen your knives they tell you. A dull knife is more dangerous than a sharp one. You know why? Because if its so dull that it can’t go through what you are trying to cut, the knife will slip or bounce off and cut your fingers. Kitchen stores have lots of options for sharpening your knives. Both expensive and less expensive. I am working on learning to use a wet stone to sharpen mine, but I am not there yet. If your knives are in really bad shape or have never been sharpened, this is something you absolutely have to do. Seriously!

Get yourself the right kitchen tools to make some jobs easier. I am not talking about all the useless gadgets they sell in stores. Most of them are ridiculous. The best money you can spend is on a couple different sizes of measuring scoops. Scoops not spoons. You should already have measuring spoons and cups for both liquid and dry measurements. I watch people struggle to make their cookies or their meatball the same size. When you use a scoop whatever it is you are making, it’s going to be the same size as the rest. When they are all the same size, they will cook evenly and some won’t be burnt or underdone.

These few things are just the beginning of becoming a better cook. I will be going over lots of things that most people don’t know are important….silver skin is just one of them.

There is a debate here in our house, how to properly eat a banana. Who knew there was a proper way to eat a banana. I think the opposite way that Marty and my younger son Sam do. They are both left handed thinkers. Smart and good at math, science, engineering and analytical. Neither of them could draw a stick figure to save their life. My older son Noah and I are right handed thinkers. We are smart too, but are more visual, creative and artistic. We can draw stick figures. LOL

Marty and Sam peel their bananas from the bottom and I peel mine from the top. They say it’s easier to peel it from the bottom, then you have a built in handle. They actually thought of this?

I tried peeling my banana from the bottom and it wasn’t easier for me. Every time I tried I squished the bottom of the banana. The worse part is this disgusting looking thing that is at the end of a banana. I honestly get queasy just looking at it. I can’t believe I ate so many of these nasty little things in my lifetime!

Is this important stuff? These types of discussions in our home turn into big discussions. The left handed thinkers are always trying to convince the right handed thinkers how to do things their way, or in their minds the right way. I really don’t care how they eat their bananas, I think its hilarious they care how I eat mine.

Well I’ll bet you never thought about how you eat a banana before….have you?