Hi. My name is Katie and I write this blog.
I started it when I was completely capsized by motherhood. I had dropped out of a PhD program in Philosophy, I had a traveling husband, and 3 kids in 3 years. My heart felt like it had grown 1,000 times bigger, and the growing pains hurt. But cooking for my people always made everything better.
Then, in 2017 we had twins. Even under the demands of a twin pregnancy and their early years, where I had to rely on go-to family favorites instead of the recipe developing and creating I love too, I still found that cooking was a solace, a joy, a way to reset every day by feeding our bellies and our souls.
As the mom of six who also freelance writes and is working on her second novel, know how busy families are, and a simple repertoire of basic good food helps. My blog is a mix of these family recipes plus the some new ingredients and techniques to help keep learning about food exciting.
I started really cooking when I was 30 – as in read all the cookbooks cover to cover and start to know the exact week when fiddlehead ferns or peaches are in season – but I blame most of my love of food on my childhood. I grew up in a big Irish Catholic family where my mom made Asparagus with Hollandaise, German potato salad with bacon and vinegar, stuffed pork tenderloin and carrots with butter and parsley, and homemade banana creme cake. Sometimes all in the same meal. My mom studied in France and that influenced her love of good food which she passed down to us. I started to see that food is memories.
The family table nourished and shaped me, and I hope to do the same for my family.
And I hope to help other families find easy ways to make memories too.
I write freelance at Coastal Home Magazine and NH Magazine. I also write a lot here.
When I am not cooking dinner, I am working on my second novel, (I also started a food memoir that I hope to return to when the twins are a little older!) or chauffeuring kids around. I also like to daydream about living in France with my crew and having all the laundry done for longer then 30 seconds.
A girl can dream.
XOXO,
Katie
Frequently Asked Questions:
- How do you do it all? (Or some variation of wow haven’t you got your hands full): My old answer used to be “all things are possible with a good babysitter”. But we don’t currently have a babysitter so let’s just go with preschool. I love being with my kids and I love when I get to totally focus on creative work. Those windows are like oxygen and so I am the queen of the multi-tasking todo list to keep those open.
- I think I’ve heard of your blog before, what’s it called, The Onion? Nope, that’s the humor website that I really love. My blog name was from the fact that I love how every ethnic food uses onions as a base of so many of their recipes. Indian, Mexican, French, Italian. My favorite foods are rustic, classic dishes, and the onion is sort of involved in those a lot.
- Do your kids really eat what you make? Yup. The little ones won’t do spicy and they really love a good side of pasta if it is a more adventurous dish, but for the most part I try to keep their tastes in mind. We sometimes make a grown up meal and give the kids a more kid friendly one on the weekends, but if its family dinner I usually don’t have time to make 2 meals.
- Who takes all the photos on this website? I do. I am always curious about food photography, and I am still learning, so here is what I can tell you: I use a Canon Rebel T4i with a 50mm lens. I shoot manually. Sometimes I use pics from my iPhone. Natural light is my best friend. Just kidding, my best friend is Megan.
- Where can I find a better blog then yours? All these places: