Excerpt from the Introduction At the risk of being obvious, the kitchen is truly my favorite place in the world. It's the one place where my relatively busy mind calms, where the stresses of life melt away, and time seems to slow down. As I slice shallots, stir a pot of simmering sauce, knead dough into a soft and stretchy pillow, or watch bub­bling butter begin to brown, everything that felt so big before I started cooking just seems to become more manageable. When I first made the switch from office work to cooking and recipe writing full time, I was nervous that I might lose that spark. Cooking had always been my hobby, that comforting thing I could confidently do no matter how I was feeling on any given day. Luckily, that never went away. Food continues to be my passion. But according to the scuttlebutt on the street, not everyone feels this (admittedly over-the-top) poetic love for their daily trips to the stove. Apparently, some people even loathe their kitchens with the fieriness of a thousand flambés! Can you believe it?! Maybe you can! Maybe you're even one of those people. Or perhaps you just find the daily trudge of making food humdrum at best. No matter what end of that spectrum you find yourself on, I am here to help. With pretty much every single recipe I write, my goal is to show you that cooking for yourself, your friends, and your family doesn't have to be boring, difficult, or stressful. But with my new book, I'm aiming to make your life even easier, with uncom­plicated but delicious recipes packed with tips and tricks that you can carry with you into everything you cook. As with all my recipes, the food in these pages is made using ingredients that can be easily found at an average grocery store or even in your own pantry. If a specialty ingredient is called for, I'll either tell you where you can find it and how else to use it, so any leftovers don't sit forgotten in the back of your fridge, or I'll provide tips on how to substitute something else. I've used basic kitchen equipment throughout because there is nothing more disheart­ening to beginners and seasoned cooks alike than finding a recipe that piques your interest only to realize you don't have the tools to make it. As always, cooking and sharing food should be as much about comfort and enjoyment as they are about sustenance and nourishment. Filled with ideas that will take you from breakfast through to dessert in chapters broken down according to their main ingredient to facilitate easy searching, In Mary's Kitchen is here to share with you the simple pleasure of straightforward, cookable recipes that will hope­fully make the kitchen your happy place too. Mary Excerpted from In Mary's Kitchen: Stress-Free Recipes for Every Home Cook by Mary Berg All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.