About Spice is Life

This is the personal Web log of Susan Heathfield who has spent the last twenty-one years as a management consultant, trainer, facilitator, and writer. Susan writes and produces the Human Resources Web site for About.com, a New York Times Company. If you'd like to know more about Susan, see her brief biography.

This Web log is not for the faint of heart, mind or palate. Spice Is Life is for people who want to take cooking to the next level: to explore using spices and herbs in recipes and cooking. I also anticipate taking you with me on some of the trips and journeys as my husband, Bill, and I travel. And, random thoughts, I’m sure, will find their way into this Web log because I have opinions about almost everything. In fact, in reviewing my recent thoughts, you can expect much more than recipes.

Not necessarily for week-night warriors on the go – although these dishes generally produce superb leftovers to warm up - many of my herbs and spices recipes are for those times when you have the chance to savor the experience of cooking. But, one of my specialties is also jazzing up every day food, so some of the recipes will help take week night cooking to a new level. I’ll both create new dishes and doctor family friendly favorites.

My Mom was a good, plain all-American cook, but most of my young life, she cooked for seven children, her husband, my grandparents, and my uncle. That’s twelve people. So, understand that a lot about cooking was drudgery for her since she didn’t have a choice. She cooked three meals a day, regardless.

So, we ate things like chicken, mashed potatoes, meat loaf, green beans casserole, and salad. A Friday staple was fish sticks with macaroni and cheese. The daring dinner of the month was homemade spaghetti sauce – daring because it was the only dinner that required any spice at all beyond salt and pepper - a heaping teaspoon or two of Italian seasoning.

After Mom died, we cleaned out the spice cupboards and found spices from the 1940s and even the 1930s. Many had been purchased by my Grandfather who was the prior generation's cook. He was notorious in family history for a blue cheese pizza he made when I was about five.

I tell you these things only to share my roots. I adored my Mother, but cooking experimentation definitely came later in my life, once I finished college. This is what is so much fun about cooking. You can always get better, you can start at any time, and the potential ingredients are endless.

I love to cook; I love to travel; I love to share and listen to thoughtful opinions from people who don’t feel a big need to bring me over to their point of view. Your feedback is not just welcome, but embraced.