There’s something about specialty cooking that has always appealed to me. Whether it was learning the skills that came with cooking over a campfire starting in the Cub Scouts to learning the secrets of the perfect Midwest grilling from Dad, barbecue from any restaurant owner willing to teach a young white boy eager to spend hours around the fires to learn how to do it right – it all interested me to no end.
Which was why, as discussed in my first post on this site, lifelong lessons from an old friend, the fascination with cooking was always strong with me. Especially if there was any hint of a travel or outdoor element to it, as well.
If someone was making something new, setting some coals, firing up an oven, or otherwise looking for volunteers to help prepare food, I was there. There’s a reason the nickname “Chef Shane” started popping up with many new group of friends and acquaintances whenever I’d travel again or arrive to a grill out. It’s amazing what you can learn with good teachers, an open mind, and literal decades of experience honing your skills around skewers, spits, fire pits, grills, ovens, and more.
The only thing that brought me more joy than learning something new or picking up another skill, another recipe, another great dish, was being able to then further teach what I had learned from others to other younger people also eager to learn. As it so often does, many of those recipes and foods also came with stories, memories, and reliving those with each telling just made the cooking all the more special.
While I don’t get to travel quite as often as I like, and while it seems to always take more work to get large groups together as you get older, hopefully this blog can be a place where I share all my stories, recipes, food memories, and arm you with the knowledge, skills, and confidence to take that lifetime of growing food memories and make some of your own.
Thanks for stopping by, and I do truly hope this site will end up being your go-to for all things kebabs, grilling, smoking, or so many other ways of cooking. Life has many joys, in to me learning about the many different options that come with cooking is one of the great ones.