Cooking by the Seat of My pants is more than just a really catchy name for a food blog. (Well, I think it’s pretty catchy.) It’s the way I cook. I rarely use a recipe, and if I do, I blatantly neglect to follow it once I get going. I just fly through the kitchen by the seat of my pants and cook for the sheer unadulterated pleasure it gives me.

Hence the name… you get it, right? Good!

Now, moving on.

Who is this Guy, Anyway?

I am an avid cook, guitar player, Husband, Father, Grandfather (I became one at at 38, Sheesh!), computer programmer, web developer, graphics designer and all around jack-of-all trades. I gave up all the professional titles in 2007 and simply became what is known as a “professional blogger”. (Yep, this is how I make my money, folks.)

Quite a few of you have been asking me just how it is that I make my living blogging. Rather than try to answer all of your comments and emails, I’ve set up a site to detail how I go about it.  you can find that information at www.jerrydrussell.com.  Enjoy!

Why is it that you do the cooking?

To be totally honest, I do most of the cooking because my wife is just as driven in her careers as I am in my online pursuits. (Yes, she’s pursuing two at the moment, full time Service member in the U.S. Air Force and full time writer. ) Currently, I’m the Work at home spouse, and that gives me the opportunity to have hands on participation in our son’s day to day life, while still earning a living doing the things I love most in life, cooking, writing and designing.

Do you have any experience at all with this cooking thing?

Just a bit. I learned to cook very early in my young adult life for two very important reasons:

1. I moved out of my mother’s house and realized that everything I knew how to make started out with “Open the box”, and if it didn’t, it was awful.~I needed to learn so that I didn’t have to eat my own cooking.
2. I married at 21 and my new wife couldn’t cook any better than I could. Those Hamburger-Helpy boxes were starting to look a little tired.~I needed to learn for self preservation and to preserve some form of sanity.

I dove into the culinary world cautiously. Carefully memorizing recipes and techniques from The Joy of Cooking and The Betty Crocker Cookbook. After a time I could actually eat the stuff I made without grimacing and choking down a pitcher of tea.

Not bad… Especially for a 20-something. I was getting pretty good at this stuff.

It took years of moving around and experiencing different types of food before I realized that the collection of cookbooks I had in the house were used mostly to look up sauce recipes. For everything else I just winged it. There comes a point at which the procedures are just “there”. You don’t need to open a book to saute mushrooms or onions, you just do it. Through three marriages and six children I’ve just winged it in the kitchen. (A good habit when you’ve got kids. Their tastes change more often than a military recruiter changes his story.)

Wait A Second! What did you say?!?

Yes, I said six kids. Six absolutely wonderful little rug monkeys whom I’m monstrously proud of. And as of January 9th, 2007 I am a grandfather as well. (A young grandfather. On that date I was 38 years old.) I have since been graced with a second Grandchild, but that’s another story…

Got your eyes back in their sockets yet? OK, can we go on with the narrative now?

Wonderful! See, I knew you had it in you!

Currently Mrs. Seat of her Pants and I live in Texas with our son and mentally challenged Boston Terrier named Buster.

And for the record, Mrs. Seat of her Pants is a wonderful cook and an excellent pastry concoctioner. (Is that a word? I doubt it but it sounds good.) She’s got Puerto-Rican cooking down to a science, and my cooking tends to be based a lot deeper in Classic Southern Comfort Food with a hint of Italy and Asia thrown in for fun. I also make a killer stir fry, and have half of the French mother sauces memorized. That’s not bragging, I just like a good sauce or gravy to go with just about anything.

Not bad for a couple of Irish Americans, eh?

So why should I hang around here? You’re not a professional Chef.

No, I’m not, and I never claimed to be. I just cook what I like, and I share the more interesting attempts with whomever wants to read them. Some are wonderful, some were just so-so (good to learn from, if not worth making) and some are downright disasters, which I think makes for a great laugh, so I include those from time-to-time as well. The goal here is to pass on one simple fact.

Cooking should be fun. It should be an adventure, and the best part of that adventure is sharing. Since I can’t invite the whole world for supper, and because I have no interest at all in returning to the world of the professional cook, this is my way of sharing. And hey, you can change it up however you’d like. I’ll never know!

Anyway, if you’ve made it this far into this little narrative, I applaud you for your perseverance. I’ve run out of witty things to say about myself for now. but be sure to come back later. If I’m not building a website for someone, writing or cooking I might just get up the steam to poke more fun at myself.

It’s possible anyway.

Enjoy the site!

Jerry D. Russell~ The man behind the curtain.

you can contact me using the contact form, or just send me an email at jerry (at) cookingbytheseatofmypants [DOT] com

To learn how I make a living online and how you can too, check out my main business site www.jerrydrussell.com

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