I grew up in a family where I was surrounded by people that loved to cook and loved to eat. Everything I know about cooking can be accredited to my father and all the wonderful women in my life including my mother, grandmothers, great grandmother, and five wonderful aunts who took the time to feed my never ending appetite and let me watch while they prepared food. My best childhood memories are of big family parties revolving around giant meals. These were the best times; the loudest and happiest, and taught me that meals are meant to be shared.
Now I’m 23 and a living life as a pastry chef in Seattle. I live in a (beautiful!) house with four of the people I love most in the world but don’t always have the picture perfect equipment, crockery, or cutlery I would like to have. But I still love to cook and I still want to share it with the world - or whoever is paying attention at least. Many people are intimidated by cooking from scratch and I feel it’s important to share how much joy cooking a meal can bring- rather than how easy it may or may not be. To me, cooking is about the happiness I get out of the process and also the wonderful ways in which meals bring us together. I always look to this Marcella Hazan quote when people as my why I love to cook:
“The explanation is that I consider cooking to be an act of love. I do enjoy the craft of cooking, of course, otherwise I would not have done so much of it, but that is a very small part of the pleasure it brings me. What I love is to cook for someone. To put a freshly made meal on the table, even if it is something very plain and simple as long as it tastes good and is not a ready-to-eat something bought at the store, is a sincere expression of affection, it is an act of binding intimacy directed at whoever has a welcome place in your heart. And while other passions in your life may at some point begin to bank their fires, the shared happiness of good homemade food can last as long as we do.”
A little note on the name: It took me literally years to create a blog for the simple reason of not having the right name. Olives and tomatoes have been my favorite foods since as long as I can remember. I once famously turned down birthday cake at my best friend's 5th birthday party and asked, instead, for a plate of tomatoes.
Hope you enjoy reading (and possibly cooking) with me.
