About Me

I learned to cook from my grandmother, a self-taught home cook, who would not only whip up the most wonderful holiday feasts featuring lamb, prime rib, and turkey, but who would also serve Romesco Cauliflower and Veal Cutlets to me and my little brother on the regular.  

I was encouraged to cook at home by my mother, who could cook, but didn't enjoy it, and thus allowed me to experiment in the kitchen with flavors and dishes to my heart's content.

These days you can find me at home in my own kitchen, where I cook for my husband and four children, the world's most perfectly diverse taste-testers. I made all my own baby food from scratch, did a two year stint cooking for toddler twins with an egg and dairy allergy, and perfected the art of repurposing family meals for a second service the next day.

What I've come up with are simple, family-friendly dishes based on my grandmother's recipes and my own understanding of how food works together, born from years of "playing" with my food. I take dishes I loved as a child and update them with a Southern California flare- citrus and avocados abound, and Taco Tuesday is a way of life. Gone are the canned and processed ingredients of yore-- instead you'll find fresh, local, and seasonal ingredients combined in ways to suit every palate, and simple enough that even the most novice home cook can execute them perfectly. In short, it's not quite my grandmother's cooking anymore.