Welcome

I am a 21-year-old college senior living in Pittsburgh, PA.

I started this blog because I wanted to share my cooking with others. That is, people other than my boyfriend. I wanted to share the process, the ideas, the problem-solving. The tension of a skillet of olive oil just before the smoke point. The triumph of sliding a full pan into the preheated oven. The hesitation of my fingers above jars of spices and bags of flour. And the sweet catharsis of a mouthful of perfection. Or, more often in my case, the lessons learned from my missteps.

In January 2009, I was diagnosed with a gluten allergy; this was supposed to fix the horrible stomach pain I had been experiencing for months. In August, it was back to the doctor, and I came away with more diagnosed allergies: soy and sesame. Recently, I have been tentatively diagnosed with allergies to milk and eggs, and I will be trying to eliminate these from my diet in the coming months. I will be posting recipes that are gluten, soy, egg, sesame, and cows milk free, though I will occasionally use goat/sheepsmilk products.

I have always enjoyed cooking, but as my allergies removed, one by one, the foods I could safely enjoy outside of the home, it has become somewhat of an obsession. I am guided by the conviction that people with food allergies should be able to eat delicious, satisfying food. I strive to make my allergy-friendly meals truly outstanding. My travel (and my list of future travel locations) has influenced my cooking extensively, and I love to combine different “ethnic” flavors in unexpected ways. You will see many recipes that borrow elements of authentic international cuisines, my favorite regions to pilfer being India, Mexico, and Southeast Asia.

I am a college student, with limited kitchen space, cooking implements, money, and time. As such, I will try to post recipes that are easy and require few specialty ingredients or equipment. If procedures can be made simpler, they will be. This is the origin of the title of this blog. I really do have only two saucepans.