About

My thoughts on food:

I like it. Food was a big part of our everyday lives growing up in a very traditional southern Italian family. We grew our own vegetables, made our own tomato sauce, pasta, bread, sausage, prosciutto, cheese, wine and so much more. I say we because we all helped – a little. My mom did the lion’s share of the work. You can see her keeping an eye on us in the photo below.

My sister's communion. Vancouver, 1970. — My sister’s communion. Vancouver, 1970.

We bought very little from the store, primarily paper towels, freezer bags and school supplies. I’m kidding, but it’s not far from the truth. I had the most interesting lunches in elementary school: eggplant sandwiches and a multitude of other leftovers between two robust slices of homemade bread. Needless to say, nobody ever wanted to trade sandwiches with me at lunch. Things changed when we got to high school. Suddenly, I had lots of friends wanting to share my lunches. My mom is an amazing cook. She taught me a lot about cooking with fresh ingredients.

Mom's homegrown tomatoes and homemade ricotta.
Mom’s homegrown tomatoes and homemade ricotta.

I would describe our diet as being primarily a Mediterranean diet. We try to eat fresh locally sourced whole foods as much as possible.

My thoughts on cooking:

The best part about cooking is the sharing part. It’s really satisfying to see the people you love enjoying a meal you prepared for them. I also enjoy the creative process of recipe developing. I rarely follow recipes. I generally use them as a point of departure and then make them my own. Truth be told, this is often because I’m missing an ingredient and I can’t be bothered to go to the store to get it. Some of the best recipes come together this way. The recipes that I share on my blog are recipes that I have developped, tested and that we really enjoy. I try to include vegan and gluten-free recipe variations whenever possible.

My Thoughts on Photography:

It all started a few years ago with Gastropost Vancouver’s Food Missions for Food Lovers. It was a new addition to our local newspapers. Gastroposters submitted food photos to GastropostVan and they occasionally got published in the newspaper. This section of the newspaper doesn’t exist anymore, but it was fun while it lasted. It was pretty cool seeing my food photos in the local newspaper.

We celebrated Gastropost Vancouver’s 100th food mission at Yew Seafood and Bar with lots of amazing food and drink. It was at this event that I was recognized for having the best homemade food photos. Ever since then, I’ve been trying to live up to this title, which I’m not sure I really deserved. There are so many talented foodies in Vancouver.

It’s a lot of fun being part of Vancouver’s food community. The food community in Vancity is full of very warm, talented and passionate people and I am fortunate to be a part of it.