I thought I’d kick off my first journey into the blogosphere (a term I just learned) with a sneak peek into the kitchen I spend the most time in – the Chatelaine Test Kitchen (see the pics below). If you look closely you’ll see lots of ingredients for baking, Christmas baking, can you believe it? We’ve already started to test the holiday recipes. Like many home cooks, we have mismatched knives (the one I grab is almost always dull), an electric range and a variety of pots and pans. Nothing too fancy — we want to make sure our recipes work in your kitchen. This is all set up for the ultimate goal of making our recipes work, which isn’t always simple and straightforward. When I’m developing new recipes, I think it’s essential to take risks (like adding a little wasabi to hollandaise sauce or dried cherries to a classic oatmeal cookie recipe). Sometimes the results are great but sometimes I have to admit they’re a bit of a flop… Soon you’ll be seeing it all. Since I’m a bit of a food nerd, I keep track of all my culinary hits and misses (like the great tasting but not tall enough chocolate cake I just made). I do this when I test recipes for work, whenever I have company over and also anytime I try something new. I’m really excited about this blog because it’s a brand new way of recording and sharing those experiences. Hope you’ll pop by and check out my adventures in the kitchen and hopefully pick up some new ideas for your kitchen too. The Chatelaine Test Kitchen is different than I expected the first time I saw it. So I have a question for you: Is it different than you pictured it?