Why I am here

I have always loved being in the kitchen, whether it was to bake or cook. Some of my earliest and fondest memories of my childhood took place in the kitchen with my mom. My dad was always doing home improvement projects on weekends so my mom would have me help her in the kitchen to make him snacks and lunch. It always felt like a special treat for me when we had my uncles or family friends over to help my dad because that meant we had more people to feed.

Growing up in a Hispanic family, food has always been very important and tied in to ALL family functions. Every major life event there has to be food! Birthdays, marriages, Baptisms, graduations, retirements, new job, promotions, family visiting from near or far, and funerals. My dad is Puerto Rican and Spanish who was born and raised in Hawaii. He grew up eating traditional Puerto Rican and island food with a plethora of vegetables and fruit grown on his family's property. My mom is Spanish and Native who was born in Albuquerque and raised in Oakland, California. She was one of twelve children so what she ate was vastly different from my dad. Tortillas and beans were on the menu daily. One thing that was important for both families , you always made more food for company because you never wanted to not have enough for your guests.

At a young age, my mom had me in the kitchen with her and I will be eternally grateful that she encouraged me to be involved with cooking and baking. She stayed home until I went to kindergarten and I learned many things during those years. She taught me how to can fruit, make tortillas, and get my own simple snacks and meals. I didn't realize how those simple skills would benefit me in graduate school. That'll be a for a different post.

I didn't start experimenting in the kitchen until I was in junior college. My brother had a girlfriend who was a phenomenal cook and we spent many days and evenings together cooking and baking. Then I started dating my husband who also appreciates food and enjoys being in the kitchen with me.

Jumping ahead to today, I work in a portable at a public school and have the privilege of sharing this portable with 4 coworkers who have become family. In the 5 years I have been there, we have shared food, laughter, tears and everything in between. My county started shelter in place on March 16th and I lost my daily interactions with them. I didn't realize how much I needed those conversations with them. With SIP, I was tasked with working from home and teaching my two kids. I didn't realize how busy my family was until we were forced to stay home. Between school, after school IEP meetings, karate, religious school, baseball, music lessons and playdates - it was a wonder I was able to squeeze in any time for running yet alone cooking! Working from home gave me the opportunity to cook and bake more for my family and with that my mind started racing with ideas.

I want to share a new recipe or what an utter failure a creating was. I want to share these adventures in the kitchen with my friends and family. So here I am! I am not a natural writer - I'm a speech therapist! I prefer to talk!