This past month has been insane! I turned 29, ate döner kebabs in 6 countries in 3 weeks, started a new job at my company (now I technically have 4), witnessed my buddy reach level 40 in Pokemon Go, got a soda stream, and just generally became completely overwhelmed with life. Through all of the chaos and the travelling and the pokemon and the soda, I felt this grounding presence in the back of my mind: the memory of the meal my wife made me for my birthday dinner!
Read MoreI went to the grocery store, picked out four random ingredients, and resolved to make something out of them, just like in friggin Chopped. But alas, I have zero originality so I ended up transforming none of the ingredients, and just threw them on a pizza like I do with all the other food I buy. The result was blog-worthy though, so here it is.
Read MoreYou all ready for some garlicky insanity??! This pizza is worth the stink tongue.
Read MoreOk! Visitor season is officially over! I now have time to blog again! And what do I do when I have time? Pizza!
Read MoreWell, it happened. Jess turned 30.
Read MoreThis cake... It's pillowy and wet and pumped full of chocolate insanity. The buttercream, if used sparingly, actually contributes to the more savory aspects of the cake layers such that it doesn't give you a sugar headache when you eat like six pieces in a row. Ok, I can't help it if cake descriptions sound extra sexual. Happy Birthday Grandma?!?!
Read MoreHot sauce-marinated pulled pork and Mexican rice and (not pictured) garlic-sauteed kale and fried eggs all wrapped up in a giant chewy flour tortilla? There's literally nothing to not like about that.
Read MoreOk I think we can all agree that ketchup is just an excuse to eat a thousand french fries. But in this case the ketchup stands on its own.
Read MoreOk so I've never had a Bloody Mary, but this past Friday I was very drunk at a brewery and my scientist friend told me about how Bloody Marys cure hangovers for alcoholics because the alcohol replaces formaldehyde with ethanol, or something like that, in your brain, which makes it feel happier? Ok obviously I didn't listen very well, but the next day, BAM! Hangover! I vaguely remembered someone smart telling me to eat a Bloody Mary (as if that were even possible), so that's what I did! The result: Eatable Bloody Mary in the form of homemade pasta and a sauce inspired by the cocktail.
Read MoreIn my partnership with Tabanero Hot Sauce, I decided to create a riff on the classic Israeli shakshuka, simply by adding some hot sauce to it and serving it over baked tortillas instead of pita or flat bread. I'm calling it shakshuka chilaquiles, which I know is nonsense, but I just like it, ok?
Read MoreAnd I'm back! After a crazy couple of holiday weeks traveling all over the East Coast and gaining 15 pounds, I am happy to inform you all that I have returned and am ready to ruin all of your weight-related New Years resolutions. To kick things off, I made some hot sauce pasta dough!
Read MoreWings + pasta = Buffalo chicken pasta!
Read MoreAnyone who knows me even a little bit will know that I know how to say "Where is my pizza?" in 50+ languages. In any form, it is my favorite food by far. This pizza was inspired by my mom, who tried to make her minestrone soup fancier one day by putting something with a French name (pistou) on top of it. Little did she know that pistou is just pesto without pine nuts. It's so easy to make, not fancy at all, but still vibrant and powerfully flavored. It adds crazy freshness to the plainest of foods. It completely transformed my mom's minestrone, and when I put it on this pizza it was just like Blam Blam! Massive flavor explosion.
Read MoreMaking my own fresh pasta recently became very important to me because I convinced myself that I am very authentic and have a duty to uphold the traditions of my Italian heritage. That concept doesn't really represent my upbringing, which was full of homemade sauce at Christmas time or whenever I visited my grandma, but not too much fresh pasta. But whatever!I convinced myself that it was important to get back to roots, and thenceforth labored to get really good at making fresh pasta.
Read MoreI was feeling gloomy so I made this pear cake for happiness, but still made it look like it was next to a rainy window on a stormy day, even though that is ridiculous because I live in San Diego, and San Diego would never betray me like that...
Read MoreEssentially, I live in Mexico, and I'm soaking up all of the Mexican-American culture I can before all of my wonderful south-of-the-border friends are deported from my beloved San Diego, which owes so much of its charm to their presence, so here is some chicken tortilla soup.
Read MoreEvery single Christmas for my entire life, my grandma has made almond paste cookies. This is her recipe!
Read MoreBolognese is the first recipe I ever cooked out of a cookbook with Jess (wife)! It was my idea to make the sauce, unknowing that Jess was Buddhist and did not eat pork. I just thought, hey, I'm Italian and I have never actually made Bolognese sauce before, so let's do it! Jess, ever the angel, did not mention that she was morally averse to eating or cooking with pork, so she just helped chopping veggies and stirring the flavors together and we talked about Harry Potter.
Read MoreMy friend was in Berlin recently, so I was feeling super German, even though I'm not, and wanted to make pretzels about it. I wanted something super chewy, so I basically made pizza dough, whipped into some pretzel shapes, dipped them into baking soda water, baked them, and called them pretzels.
Read MoreThis lemon tart shizness is sour AF, so get your drool ready and pucker up!
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