An introduction
Hi, I’m Jamie, and this is the blog that took me too long to figure out I needed to write. I’ve been in love with food and writing since a very young age (see next section) but it took me meeting my boyfriend (see last section) to bring this all together.
I am not formally educated in the culinary arts but I love to cook. My base education came from my grandmother and continues with endless hours of internet and cable cooking shows. I’ve had some work experience in the industry, but it is not what I do now professionally. My favorite jobs were tending bar at neighborhood restaurant where I doubled as fry cook and a seasonal position as a counter-person/barista at a coffee shop. I made two attempts at serving. That was not conducive with my skillset.
Most of my writing experience is in comedy. So, that’s bound to show up here. If something seems a little tongue in cheek, it probably is. Nothing is more amazing than bringing an audience of strangers to a roar of laugher over a common experience. And that is something that I also love about food—how it brings people together. The pandemic was tough on all of that, the restaurant and entertainment industries, as well as people coming together in general. Maybe that’s why this is the time to write this. But first, I need to give you a little background and introduce you to some folks that are important to my story with food.
My introduction to food (and writing)
I wouldn’t be here writing a blog about food without the influence of my grandmother. So this is where my story starts, in her kitchen, tasting the sauce. I was so small that I needed to stand on a chair pushed against the stove in order to see over the brim of that giant stock pot. The heat and aroma, hitting my small face, I watched as she blew on a spoonful of sauce before offering me the taste. She then asked me what it needed. On the counter to the left of the stove sat a variety of spices. I looked them over and guessed, “Basil?” She was teaching me to cook by taste.
All of my earliest memories were formed at her home and most were surrounding food. Unfortunately, she passed in September of 2009, so she is not here to witness what I am setting out to do here with this blog. But she is also not here to object to my use of these pictures.
I also remember the soft boiled eggs with toast for breakfast and I especially remember the coffee. Oh how I loved the aroma of fresh brewed coffee which she prepared using a stovetop percolator. I always wanted some but alas, I was too young. As a compromise, she would top of my glass of milk off with a splash of coffee. That was my wonderful, secret breakfast treat with grandma!
With me, she shared not only her love of food but storytelling as well. Every night that we spent at her house, before bed, my sister and I would beg for a bedtime story. “Let me put my thinking cap on,” she’d say as she mimed putting on a hat. A fresh new story with an imbedded with a lesson would follow.
I remember sitting on her living room floor having constructed a book with folded paper bound by string. In it, I attempted to tell a story with pictures, as I had not yet learned to write. I remember being frustrated and thinking about how I couldn’t wait to go to school so that I could learn to write.
So you see, it was silly that it took me so long to put these two loves together. This blog is as much hers as it is mine.
Another important person
I spent over a decade writing and performing stand up comedy. Perhaps that is why I didn’t put this together sooner. I was distracted, my focus on another genre. In the spring of 2019, I decided to take an improv class which led to my “summer of improv,” which led to a year of improv by the Spring of 2020. Never could I have imagined how useful that improv training was about to become as we all embarked upon the greatest period of improvising we would [hopefully] see in our lifetimes.
In the Spring of 2021, a friend that I had met at an improv event asked if she could introduce me to a friend of hers. She thought we would get along because we both were into food and comedy. I agreed to be introduced to my now boyfriend, Jeff.
Jeff doesn’t just love food, he holds a Bachelor Degree in Food Service Management from Johnson & Wales University and 15 years experience working in fine dining on the east coast until moving back home to WNY when the pandemic hit.
Presently living apart, every weekend we make it a point to cook one big meal or new food item together. We also dine out at least once per week. Most of my food-related adventures these days are with him. Somehow, meeting him helped pull this together.
