Who's Elfie?

I was going to start by posting up a whole bunch of yummy things, but then I realized that no one's gonna care about my delicious treats if they don't who's behind them! So, let me introduce myself.

My name is Heather and I'm 26 years old. I finished grad school in May with a degree in Integrated Marketing Communication. Right now, I'm working as a sales & marketing assistant for a company called Caterer's Warehouse.  I complain about my job sometimes, but basically, I'm doing what I went to school for and since it's a small company, I get to learn to new stuff and no two days are ever the same.

By now, you're probably asking yourself why I'm called Elfie.  My aunt passed away from ALS when I was 16, but she was pretty tall and I was - am - pretty short (5'1" if you're keeping track). Once, she got me a pair of green pajamas and told me I looked like an elf.  It stuck, and from then on she called me Elfie.  (As an aside, those pajamas were really comfortable!)  Before she died, she taught me how to bake.  Just before she taught me how to make things myself, she was able to come to the science fair and had a bag of cookies in her hand.  She handed them to me, and I couldn't understand why she was giving me a bag of burned cookies.  Turns out, they were chocolate chocolate raspberry chip cookies and they were the greatest thing ever.  I also have not been able to find chocolate raspberry chips since.  At any rate, she taught me how to make chocolate chip cookies and oatmeal raisin cookies.  She also taught me how to make a complete Thanksgiving and Passover dinner, but that's another story for another day.

I live with my boyfriend of 7 years, Joe.  He has the dubious honor of being my best friend, partner in crime and quality control taste tester.  We have a cat named Slayer  She's a calico, but only barely.  She is about 6 years old and weighs roughly 20 pounds.  She and I have a love/hate relationship: I love her and she hates me!  Since we've moved in together she's warmed up to me a lot, but she still really only likes me when Joe is asleep or not home.  Oh well - beggars cant be choosers!  

My brother, Josh, gets the taste-testing job, too.  My mom is the lucky one who gets all the extras and the "I made way too much" deliveries - sometimes, I get a little carried away and make more than just my boyfriend and I (OK, and my coworkers) can reasonably eat!

Mostly, this blog will be about my adventures in the kitchen: mostly baking, but sometimes real food, too (though that's primarily Joe's territory).  I'm starting to get into candy making too, so there will be some of that, as well.  I'd like to open my own bakery someday, so this will probably document that too (y'know, if I can ever figure out how to actually get that off the ground).  I really love to read, too, so from time to time I might make a recommendation or ask if you've read anything interesting lately.

If you have any questions or think I should make something in particular, let me know - requests and challenges are probably the best part of this adventure!