It's really funny to me that I even blog about food at all.  Not that I label myself an actual "food blogger" or anything, but usually people who post recipes enjoy cooking a teensy bit more than I do! If you didn't gather from my whiny post about making homemade hotdog buns, cooking is not my most favorite thing. 

To be really raw and honest, I've had to overcome a lot of stress and anxiety about food.  I even went to a health counselor who helped me deal with some of my issues.  Sensitive stomach problems, low blood sugar, worries about negative aspects of the food industry and eating clean made me actually wish that eating was not even a part of life.  (I would hard-core dream of a pill that could make me not even need food. Pretty sad, I know.)

My health coach, Amanda, gave me this meal idea and it was like some kind of What about Bob therapy, for real! Baby steps. Whenever I didn't know what to eat, I would make this. Over three years later, and I'm still not even sick of it. 

When I was pregnant, one of the most helpful things for me to attempt to mentally prepare for a tiny human exiting my body was to watch birth documentaries (The Business of Being Born, The Science of Babies) and birth stories on YouTube.  I've been asked about my natural birth story and have recalled some details to friends, but posting a public account of all the gory details is not what I'm dying to do. 
Even right now I'm about to back out of posting this... ha! 
But alas, since reading these things really helped me, I'm going to try to tell my tale without hitting TMI code-red. Be forewarned that if you are not currently pregnant or thinking about being, you probably will not care about this post at all. 
Okay, disclaimers done!

A few times in my adult life, my mom has reminisced about when she would make homemade buns to send in my school lunches... but if it wasn't for her storytelling I'm not sure I would've ever remembered them!  This was a thought that spurred on the idea and purpose of this blog, so I figured I needed to set out to try making some homemade hotdog buns myself! 

The verdict? They are delicious. Will I turn Suzy Homemaker and make these throughout Rowan's childhood. Yeeeeeah... about that... I'm gonna go with NOPE. Oh and Mom, I love you. You were really great for making these for me.

Birmingham, Alabama, USA:
If you live somewhere else in the world, you might've only heard of or associated Birmingham with the civil rights movement. Others may have no associations beyond the fact that it is situated in the deep south, and so their stereotypes and judgments fall as they may.  For me, Birmingham is my home with many sentimental aspects -- but even more than that -- it has progressed and grown with the times in ways that legitimately make me proud to live here again.