What’s the deal here?

I love food. I started cooking while studying abroad in London the summer before my senior year of college. The exchange rate at that point was 2-to-1, so my options were A) go broke buying half-price sausage rolls after 4 PM at Sainsbury’s, B) starve, or C) learn how to cook. A and B only worked for so long before I ended up going with C. The dishes that I improvised ended up being better than I could afford otherwise. 4 years later, this continues to be the case.

Through the help of food blogs, Youtube videos, food TV (mainly Barefoot Contessa for technique and ridiculous competition shows for ideas), and the assistance of hungry friends willing to wash dishes and peel shallots, I’ve managed to learn how to feed myself and others. Most of the things I make are a new flavor or a new technique from one of the aforementioned inspirations or a daydream when I am / should be working, driving, sleeping, showering, or eating something else. Also, I love talking to vendors at farmers’ markets – what product they’re excited about on a given day, how they like to use it, and what stuff they’ll bring next week if asked for it. This is how I learned to marinate lamb in buttermilk, braise chuck steak rather than buying flank steak, buy fantastic chicken livers and lamb bones, and tackle mutant-looking fruits / veggies like kohlrabi or quince.

I like mixing things up – taking a recipe or 2 or 3 and triangulating between them, varying ingredients and techniques in order to vary flavors and textures. So, in all of my posts I’ll have a section at the bottom called Options. In addition, please comment on a post if you have a thought on how to modify something, whether it’s from past experience, last week’s Top Chef, or your own culinary intuition!