About This Blog

If I told you that I never liked to cook, would you trust me in your kitchen?
When I was a teenager, I spent as little time as possible in the kitchen. My sister clearly had a passion for cooking, so I could easily side-step every culinary expedition without detection. When she left the nest, my parents noticed my disappearing act and it wasn't long before they figured out that if they didn't teach me to cook, I might never leave home.

My father, a weekend gourmet, decided that he wasn't just going to teach me to cook, he was going to teach me to enjoy cooking. Every Sunday was an experience. He regaled me with stories of our Sicilian family traditions and recipes. By the time I discovered that he was making most of it up, it didn't matter. Our family had our own traditions and I was having fun in the kitchen. 

I learned the origin of most of the dishes we created and learned to appreciate the back-story of the foods we ate. Consistently, the key ingredients in our favorite meals were locally grown and in season. Even now, I prefer to look for what's fresh and local when I'm ready to put on the apron and get to work. 

When my friend Debbie at TAKE ROOT Magazine asked if I'd thought about writing a blog, I remembered the pages of recipes and tips that I had collected over the years and decided to start A Kitchen Takes Root. My hope is that we can explore cooking with local foods and, while we're at it, make it fun, instructional and tasty. This blog invites you to take the journey with me.

My kitchen is rooted in Eugene, Oregon. Where's yours?

10 comments:

  1. Ghio, your blog looks incredible!!!

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  2. wow, I didn't know you were such a good cook!! Elaine

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    1. Elaine, yeah, I still have nightmares about the cake disaster when we were teens! LOL!

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  3. Wonderful blog, Ghio! Not only are you a great cook, you're a great writer and photographer. Keep up the good work. BTW can we search your recipes?

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  4. I'm so glad you're enjoying it! The software doesn't allow for traditional searches so the labels to the right are the best way to search for the time being. I give every recipe at least one label so you can find it. The labels often have the most prominent ingredient (Beef, Chicken, Veggies, etc), the group of foods to which they belong (soups, sauces, desserts) and the season that your likely to find fresh regional ingredients. I hope that helps until I find a better solutions!

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  5. Love this blog/recipes! Found you via Fraga cheese.

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  6. I'm glad you found me! I've been trying to find time to blog more so keep checking back! You can be sure there will be more chevre in the future, it's a favorite of mine and Fraga is doing a great job.

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  7. Boy, did it take me a long time to find this! Nice work, Ghio!

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    1. Hey Denny, I'm glad you found me and that you like the blog. Brings back memories of pairing food with homebrews!

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