About Me

Joanna, the Cook

Growing up, my family wasn't the kind to sit down to family dinners often. Everyone's schedules were too hectic we just didn't have the time or energy.  When I moved out on my own I tried cooking more.  While I enjoyed it, it just seemed like so much effort for just one person's meal.

Then in October 2011 I got married.  My husband and I both enjoy cooking and eating good home-cooked meals, but it wasn't until after we got married that we really started preparing full meals for ourselves.  Since we moved in together our cooking has gotten much better and more riskier.  We menu-plan and love to come up with ideas of what to cook next.  This may or may not be affected by the copious amount of time we spend watching The Food Network.

With our crazy schedules it was hard to find time to cook during the week.  Most nights we would end up eating dinner after 9pm!  Now I am a stay at home mom, spending my days with my one year old son, but I still try to do easy "weeknight" meals during the week so I can spend more time playing with the him and not putting on a fake cooking show for him, though he does love watching me cook!

My Kosher History

I grew up in a kosher home (separate dishes, etc) but we did not eat kosher outside of the home.  I fully admit to enjoying a good piece of bacon or a lobster roll.  When I moved out on my own, I did not keep kosher, mostly due to the minuscule kitchen of my first apartment.  There was barely any room for the few dishes, posts, pans, etc that I had, let alone double that amount!

When my husband and I moved in together, we discussed whether we wanted to keep kosher or not.  He did not grow up in a kosher home, but had chosen on his own several years ago that he would not eat pork or shellfish.  We decided that we would do as I did growing up, and we got an extra set of dishes, pots, pans, etc (that's what wedding registries are for, right??).  With our expanding family, we love having this be the way we eat at home, as it adds to the Jewish life we are giving our son.


A Message to My Readers

While all recipes in this blog are kosher, they should appeal to everyone.  Except for a few holiday specific dishes, I don't see why most of the things I post on this blog can't be on anyone's table no matter what their religion!  Though, I would love it if I heard that a non-Jew made my grandma's Gefilte Fish!