Introductions: I am a normal(ish) forty-something person with a husband, a teenage son, my mom in the extra bedroom, and a relatable kitchen that is a little too small to be big, and a little too big to be small. The pantry storage is narrow and deep as 70’s houses often are. The prefab cabinetry provides spaces for my short stature to reach, for the most part, even if via a chair dragged over from the dining table.

I have middle of the road pots and pans (I currently have a Carote detachable handle set, and they are nicely nonstick), and a Samsung black stainless appliance suite that I love, excluding the range, because it was too difficult to change over to gas. The glass cooktop is impossible not to scratch, especially for my husband and teenage son. We took some of our money this year and invested it into painting the cabinets and replacing the hardware (including upgrading to quiet-close hinges, which has been wonderful to have) and adding under-cabinet LED lighting. I have included a before and after below. My counters are still granite-look formica, but I am looking to change that, at some point this year. My mom lives with us, and she is helping us out with that, but I need to stop being indecisive (once they are changed, they will stay that way, so I am torn between materials and patterns).

My history with cooking is lengthy, and as it stated in my “about me” page, it began with my great aunt. Most of the women in that generation had things that they were the best at making… my mom makes THE BEST lasagna I have ever had. When I was a kid, she made this pseudo-Spanish rice that was straight up comfort food! My great aunt made the best chicken and dumplings, chef salad night was something I looked forward too when I was young, the WAFFLES, and her Thanksgiving dinner?! Get outta here! It was THE best! My grandma married my grandpa who was from Mexico, and learned to make all of the delicious latin american foods, guacamole, chili verde pork, salsas, the list goes on.

As a kid, one of my favorite places to be was in my great aunt’s kitchen, at the counter, watching. Sometimes she let me help with simple things, like stirring something or chopping vegetables, but usually I just watched. The spice combinations, the whole ingredients, and THE BUTTER! Waffles were my favorite breakfast food that she made. When I was little, she had this small-square waffle iron (to this day, I prefer them over Belgians), and she would mix up her Bisquick with eggs, buttermilk, a little white cornmeal (the proportions were always by eyeball), and such, and plop little scoops of it in each square on the iron… she always said that if it globbed out on our side, we would get a swat, or eat last, or whatever funny thing she wanted. She just loved us kids so, so much that food quickly became a love language for me. My mom was the catalyst in this, making sure we got to spend plenty of time there when I was a kid. To this day, it gives me no greater joy than to have my house filled with people, feeding them, listening to the laughter, the card shuffling and Canasta playing, and the murmur of things bubbling away on the stove.

This blog will be filled with some of my favorite recipes, new recipes I have tried, and plenty of memories with humor peppered in. I hope you find some enjoyment in this, as I am sure I will!