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| Erin & Mark at a traditional Basque cider house! |
Before we dive into our culinary interests, an introduction is in order. Our story began October 2016 in Seattle, WA. We quickly bonded over our shared love of food, drink, happy hour, cooking, and exploring food scenes in the various neighborhoods of Seattle. Fast-forward a few years and we are now happily married, still living in Seattle, finishing up our PhDs, cooking food, playing board games, and loving our little cat named Cali.
Alongside our passion for food is a desire to travel the world to see both new cultures and old friends. Naturally, many of our travels include necessary stops to seek out the best fresh and local foods we can find. From the Pacific and Atlantic coasts of the United States, to the Basque Country of Spain or Northern Thailand, we enjoy eating the local food as much as we enjoy seeing the famous sights. Whether we are travelling the world or at home, our goals with food are to find both simple, easy, and fresh dishes that can be made during the week and new, adventurous, time-consuming, or unique dishes that make great weekend projects.
Mark's specific interests in food range from finding the best ways to prepare the abundant and amazing fresh seafood of his hometown, Seattle, and the Pacific Northwest to long and involved weekend cooking projects to recreate his favorite dishes from around the world such as ramen or Khao Soi. His cooking philosophy is "I will try to cook anything at least once," and he spends many nights reading cookbooks or browsing other blogs and food magazine websites for new recipes and techniques. His pantry is often overflowing with spices, sauces, condiments, pickled things, and all sorts of special-purpose ingredients while his collection of kitchen toys and cookbooks seems to be constantly growing.
Erin's culinary interests are driven by her love of Southeast Asia and a desire to find easy, flavorful, and healthy weeknight dinners. She has spent many years living in both northern Thailand and Myanmar and her love for the countries, region, and their food cultures runs deep. It is while living in Thailand and Myanmar that she developed a new love for and relationship with food. Food was meant to be enjoyed and shared with everyone, both those you love and those you don't really know. Erin has carried this 'community' and 'sharing' aspect of food and cooking back to the U.S. with her. Furthermore, as an avid runner, she is also always trying to find ways to make meals healthy, but without sacrificing any flavor. Lastly, after both living in the PNW and spending so much time among farmers in northern Thailand and northeast Myanmar, Erin strives to cook more sustainably each day by buying local and cooking fresh.
We hope that this blog will reflect our shared passion and love for food, and encourage you to create, cook, and share meals with your friends, families, neighbors, and beyond. Food and cooking has a powerful ability to connect people and make the world a more inclusive, understanding, and sustainable place. We invite you to join us at our table and hear our thoughts on food.
Happy cooking!
M&E
