My Cooking Philosophy
What I hope to show you on this blog and recipe archive is that the aggregate combination of ingredients into a full meal for you and your loved ones to eat should not be overly complex, but it should also retain a large amount of respect for the preparation methods, the ingredients themselves, the tools that you use, and to your entire mindset behind a cutting board and stove. I'm a detail-oriented kind of person, and I expect that I'll attract similar people that can appreciate a careful eye and attention to detail.
I) There is no theme (beyond a general no-dairy restriction) for what you'll see on this blog. You'll find healthy dishes. You'll find indulgent dishes. You'll see artisan bread and pancakes right next to Sichuan Chinese comfort food. What I want to display - and what I hope to teach you - is a wide variety of skills, flavors, and techniques, rather than to show upmost mastery of a single skill.
II) Measurements on certain items (spices and aromatics generally) are up to your discretion. I'm not a strict headmaster here, so you can adjust how your tastes see (or taste) fit. Don't like onions? Don't use as many, or just get used to picking around them. Feel like that whole teaspoon of cayenne pepper might be a bit much for your tongue? Cut it down a little, but try not to leave many elements out of the recipe.
III) Seemingly complicated dishes are precisely that - seemingly complicated. I want to demystify the illusion that cooking necessarily has to be complicated or time-intensive to make anything beyond a sheet-pan dinner or a slow-cooker meal (not that there's anything inherently wrong with those). You can still work a traditional 9-5, come home, cook a delicious meal in an hour or so, and continue the rest of your night frantically watching whatever is on Netflix (or going to the gym if you've picked one of the more indulgent recipes on this blog).
IV) Above all else, cooking can be a enjoyable experience. If you're the type of person that enjoys mastery of a skill, cooking is a great avenue for that. After all, you have to eat a few times a day to survive, so you might as well enjoy it. You can take the route I went down and carve out your own niche sharing food with a larger community of other food lovers, home cooks, and people that want to drool to your food.
I) There is no theme (beyond a general no-dairy restriction) for what you'll see on this blog. You'll find healthy dishes. You'll find indulgent dishes. You'll see artisan bread and pancakes right next to Sichuan Chinese comfort food. What I want to display - and what I hope to teach you - is a wide variety of skills, flavors, and techniques, rather than to show upmost mastery of a single skill.
II) Measurements on certain items (spices and aromatics generally) are up to your discretion. I'm not a strict headmaster here, so you can adjust how your tastes see (or taste) fit. Don't like onions? Don't use as many, or just get used to picking around them. Feel like that whole teaspoon of cayenne pepper might be a bit much for your tongue? Cut it down a little, but try not to leave many elements out of the recipe.
III) Seemingly complicated dishes are precisely that - seemingly complicated. I want to demystify the illusion that cooking necessarily has to be complicated or time-intensive to make anything beyond a sheet-pan dinner or a slow-cooker meal (not that there's anything inherently wrong with those). You can still work a traditional 9-5, come home, cook a delicious meal in an hour or so, and continue the rest of your night frantically watching whatever is on Netflix (or going to the gym if you've picked one of the more indulgent recipes on this blog).
IV) Above all else, cooking can be a enjoyable experience. If you're the type of person that enjoys mastery of a skill, cooking is a great avenue for that. After all, you have to eat a few times a day to survive, so you might as well enjoy it. You can take the route I went down and carve out your own niche sharing food with a larger community of other food lovers, home cooks, and people that want to drool to your food.