My Life In Food

This blog is about food and food memories and every other fantastic and scrumptious thing to do with it.

My appetite and passion for food is large and runs deep, sometimes its indulgent and wild and other times wholesome and simple, often humorous and always immeasurable.

I grew up outside of Boston and spent many hours of my childhood in front of the TV watching Graham Kerr (The Galloping Gourmet) and Julia Child prepare all kinds of luscious meals that would make my mouth water.  Other days I’d follow my mother and two grandmothers around their simple, tidy kitchens as they busily prepared hearty fragrant meals, hand-cut pastas, preserved fruits and vegetables, baked yeasty breads, spicy cookies and frosted lopsided cakes. I was there by their side asking questions and helping where needed and there were plenty of times I was ordered to leave if I was in their way.

It was a given that by the time I graduated High School I would be going off to Johnson & Wales University to study Culinary Arts. Those years were fine and good. I loved the hands on creativeness of cooking whether it be the simple lesson of washing a sink full of colorful salad greens, trussing a chicken or peeling a gorgeous carrot or the complicated lessons of making a French Country Pate or Julia Child’s Cassoulet or making Brioche, it all thrilled me and my dream had arrived.

After a few years of working in restaurants the work was too repetitive for me and realized I found more joy with food when I was cooking for family and friends.

Today I live for the smells that emanate throughout my house when mixing ingredients together and meals are cooking. I adore the practice of selecting produce in markets or local farm stands and the exhilaration from growing my own herbs and vegetables. I enjoy reading about food trends and discovering new recipes and restaurants and finding what part of our planet spices and herbs come from. I take pleasure in the simplicity of browsing through a magazine and looking at photos of food. I groove on learning about the origins of cuisines and love the idea of infusing and combining flavors from other cultures. What could be more electrifying than eating a Korean/Mexican infusion inspired taco or doing a search on the internet for a different kind of marinade and finding, “Judo Joel’s Asian-Infused Jamaican Jerk Marinade” and what’s more exciting than planning your meal, seeking out your ingredients, cooking them, sharing your creation with family and friends and allowing it to nurture your soul on levels that are profound and limitless with each luscious bite you take?

I am the author the published plays The Sweepers and Seven Rabbits on a Pole, both plays been produced off Broadway and around the US. My novel Oliver Pepper’s Pickle was released in August 2011 by Camel Press. I have AS from Johnson & Wales University, a BA  from The University of Massachusetts and an MFA from Carnegie Mellon University.