About

Thanks for checking out my site! I hope you’ll enjoy what you find here.

I grew up surrounded by my Italian-immigrant family who focused a lot of time, energy and love on family, food, friends and conversation. What a way to live!

In our home it was always, “grab a plate” whenever someone — anyone — came to visit. Really. From the letter carrier to the people delivering religious pamphlets, anyone was fair game for being pulled in with either food or conversation (sometimes both), and no one ever walked away without a full stomach or a smile (usually both)! I love the fact that food brings people together. You’ll see a lot of family recipes on this site — my favorites!

I love to explore food options, restaurants, cooking, drinking, traveling and many things in between. So through my experiences, I’m inviting you to “grab a plate” and share some time with me, even if it is virtually.

I don’t have any formal food training. Or formal photography training. I’ve either picked things up on-the-fly or have learned by watching and talking to others. So while there are many other sites out there written by people more experienced with cooking, baking and taking flawless photos, I hope you’ll take this site for what it is — a place where I’ll share some recipes, ideas, experiences and probably a lot of fuzzy photos!

I live in Phoenix and work as an independent writer/editor. I volunteer at St. Mary’s Food Bank Alliance (the world’s first food bank) as an assistant in its Community Kitchen program. It’s a great program where people struggling with unemployment and poverty can train to work in the food service industry. My husband loves to cook, too, and he’s really good at it — probably better at it than I am. When we met eons ago, he was the pickiest eater EVER, but things have changed (thankfully). Our German Shepherd loves it when we’re in the kitchen. She’s got a nose for good food, too.

 

Note: I love living in Phoenix, but growing up and living much of my life in Northeast Ohio, I am a true and longstanding Browns, Indians, Ohio State, Akron Zips, and (my favorite) Cleveland Cavaliers fan. Just warning you that you’ll probably see a few rants & raves here or there throughout the seasons!