Welcome!

I'd like to extend a very warm welcome to you, the reader. I hope you will find this blog both informative and interesting to read.

First, let me explain what this blog is about. I'll be discussing food, wine and restaurants I've eaten in. It's articles will, in rotating order, cover one of these topics weekly. For example, an article in Food might be anything from a particular ingredient, a style of food, or a food I may have tried recently. The Wine section may include wine reviews or how to pair wine with food. Eating can be a rather broad subject. I would like to include restaurant reviews, an article about "the home restaurant," and cooking for friends and family. I would also like to include an article about various home cooking gadgets. And, of course, a monthly recipe.

I would also love to share my experiences with you. This, I suppose, is the perfect place to tell you a little bit about myself. I am a chef, born and raised in New England - New Hampshire to be exact. I learned how to cook from three of the best cooks I know -my Grandma Ann, my father, and my Uncle Matt. These three taught me not only how to cook, but how to love food as well. You see, food always seemed to be an integral part of our lives. It's what brought us together every night, every holiday, and every chance we got together.

One of my fondest memories is at Thanksgiving. Every year we would make the six hour journey to New Jersey to my Aunt Dee and Uncle Matt's house. And every year, my uncle would give me my own apron and step stool. I would help him do small tasks like stirring the stuffing or tasting a dish. He would even try to get me to eat the heart and liver from the turkey - an offer I did not take him up on until many years later. Even to this day, any chance I can get to be in a kitchen with him, I gladly welcome!

It was experiences like these that made me realize in my mid-teens that I would never be happier anywhere else but in a kitchen. This pushed me to get my very first cooking job at a Bickford's Family Restaurant in Nashua, NH. For those of you unfamiliar with Bickford's, it is New England's version of a Waffle House. I'm sorry to say I didn't last more there than six months, but it pushed me to find better job somewhere else. I ended up working at Michael Timothy's in Nashua as a prep chef, under Michael Buckley. I am proud to say he was one of the most influential chefs I have ever worked for. He taught me some very important lessons that will stay with me forever.

Soon after I graduated high school, I moved to Denver, CO to attend college at the Art Institute of Colorado. After three and a half years of hard work, I completed my Bachelor of Arts degree in Culinary Management. While attending college, I helped open up a new Japanese restaurant in Littleton, CO. Sadly, the restaurant didn't last more than a year and a half, but such is the life. 8 out of 10 restaurants fail within the first two years. Living in a landlocked state did not agree with me, however, so after some deliberation I decided to move back to New England. I can honestly say I love it up here. I've worked as a sous chef on the seacoast and up in the mountians. The country is beautiful.

So with eight years experience in commercial kitchens and a passion for cooking, I would love to share all my experiences with you both past and present. I hope you visit with me again an share your cooking experiences too!