Portrait of a Kitchen

My kitchen is my sanctuary.

It is not fancy, or even very well organized. There is no dishwasher, or complicated equipment. But I love it, it is everything I need. Everything in my kitchen has a little story. Nothing matches. It has life and vibrancy and warmth.

I have been cooking since I was a kid. Learning to bake with my grandma and mum, and later, as a teen in a small town in rural Australia, pouring over cookbooks and magazines. If I wanted to eat something I had to make it myself. That is the beauty of a recipe. It is a portal another time and place. To someone else’s mind and context. Ironically then perhaps, I am a big advocate of learning to cook without recipes. Using them as guides, or loose maps, and then finding your own way. This is when the kitchen really comes alive. In these pages I will share both recipes and loose maps. I have notes and recipes about food EVERYWHERE. In every notebook I pick up, some from over 20 years ago, there are menus and recipes and thoughts scribbled throughout them. In no particular order, with no organization. It is, quite simply, a mess. This website is me organizing, sorting and sharing my notes, thoughts and recipes.

Spending time in the kitchen is how I process the world. Food tells us stories. It also grounds us to where we are. I spent the last decade running my own businesses, a bakery- Ochre Bakery-and coffee shop- Astro Coffee- in Detroit. And while I am beyond grateful to be able to focus on prioritizing my family these days, I loved sharing food with my my community, it is the one thing I miss the most. I am excited to be able to share food in a new, and even more personal way, again.

I hope to create a place where we can enjoy food and ideas, stories, thoughts and inspiration. I think so much of the fun of being in the kitchen is about having the confidence to give something a go, even if it doesn’t work out perfectly, there is always something to learn.

Details:

I will post once a week. Sometimes there will be 1 recipe and suggestions for how to alter or use the recipe and other times it will be a collection of recipes based on a single ingredient or concept. Over time I will develop a broad base of techniques and ingredients with the hopes that readers will be able to fit these into their own style and preferences for cooking- a solid foundation of intuitive cooking.

For paid subscribers, you will have access to all of my material, as well as the community comments- it is always so fun to hear how others have used or interpreted the same material.

Unpaid subscribers will have access to 1 full post per month and some of the writing without recipes.