Serious Eats - seriouseats.com

My name is Traveller - apt, since I have travelled a lot and lived in about five different countries over the years. I now live in Saint Paul, MN as well, and am 27 years old. I work for a big company here, but in a past life, I spent many years in archaeolgoy, where I almost go ta PhD (long, painful story).

I love to bake first and foremost, but I also love to cook, and of course, eat. I love trying new foods, and the stranger the better sometimes. It's hard to meet people around here (MN) that are really adventurous eaters, so it's nice to have people here to chat with that are like me in that way. :)

And like LiveToEat, I an anxiously awaiting the opening of our farmers' markets. The one in Saint Paul is my favorite, and I hope that this weekend has some nice runner beans!

I'm 23, living in Seattle, working to save money for culinary school. My handle - una rata - is Spanish for rat, my zodiac year.

Food is my life. To an almost embarrassing extent. I make jokes all the time that the internet doesn't understand.

I'm 26. Bitchincamero is the name of my blog. Camero is my maiden name and was given the nickname from The Dead Milkmen's song.

I was born and raised in Miami. Lived in Boston for 4 years during college (Go Eagles!), then moved to NYC for 4 years for graduate school and work. I moved back to Miami last year and have been working on my cooking and my tan ever since.

By day, I'm the Production Manager at a digital agency. By night, I cook for my husband in my newly remodeled kitchen (with which I am completely in love). My parents are Cuban and my grandparents are Spanish, so I take a lot of inspiration from Chorizo :)

Every Friday night, I make homemade pizza (different toppings every week), drink a good IPA and fall asleep on the couch way too early.

Great backstories, everyone.

Since I chose the name LivetoEat, you can assume I'm not one who eats to live. I was a really picky child, but I luckily overcame that. Now I'm a food evangelist to everyone I know. @Traveller: there are picky eaters everywhere, but especially in Minnesota. Maybe it has something to do with the "MN nice" passive-aggressiveness!

My name is Jacquie and I'm a 26 year old New Yorker. I work in finance by day but am a home cook at night. I love to blog and talk about anything food related. My husband has deemed me a tree-hugger and I'm proud of it.

Outside of my finance job, I am also opening up a restaurant in the Philadelphia area with my husband and two of our friends.

I also plan on going to grad school part time in the fall to become a registered dietician. Lots going on with me and it's nice to have Serious Eats as an outlet/inlet for all the things I'm interested in: again, mainly food :o)

It's nice to meet everybody!

Hi Everyone! My name is: Izatryt (pronounced iz-zat-right) (aka Gretchen) I grew up in Boston and currently live in Mohnton, PA (near Reading). I am an interior designer and a home stager. I am married with 2 grown children and 4 grandchildren.

I can cook on my grill and on top of my stove. I am new to SE and have had a ball reading and joining in from time to time. I love food and although baking has not really hit my radar screen, I am becoming more open to the possibilities! I just took a cooking class and actually went out and purchased my first Le Creuset 5 qt. braising pan. It is mighty heavy and I picked the color red.

I get down to the city (Philadelphia) regularly and enjoy the dining scene there. Admittedly, I eat out more than I cook at home, but with my new found resources, I see that changing! Thank you all for your insight and great ideas. It is wonderful to meet everyone!!

I'm Chiffonade. I'm not very imaginative and don't have different names on different sites. I've been Chiffonade for about 15 years. (I have a very boring real name and my mother did not have the foresight to name me "Chiffonade.") I found SE because I have an internet troll most people here know. He's plagued me for three years. He came to SE and tried to post as me which is why my ID here had to be chiff0nade (with the zero). I had to clean up that mess and in the process found a really great site where foodies (like me!) can come to discuss our passion. I came, I loved, I stayed.

Hi, I'm Blush; I redden easily. I'm 32 and live in London, Ontario (a 2 hour drive west gets me to Detroit and a 2 hour drive east gets me to Toronto). I'm an intermediate cook and baker, but I come from a long line of fantastic cooks and bakers who grew up on farms. I'm hoping my genes kick in soon.

Hi, I'm Caley (it's a nickname that is derived from my middle name.) I'm twenty-nine and have lived in Denmark, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and just moved to Oslo, Norway in December. It's rather odd to wake up one morning, look around and find that you're in Oslo, Norway, particularly when it's December and therefore dark outside. I'm a writer and lapsed academic. I love bicycles, reading books and hanging out in louche bars. I cook together with my (Norwegian) boyfriend every day, and I love Persian food, Keralan food and stodgy Northern European food, especially sauerkraut and smoked fish.

I love reading these intros!

My nickname stems from an episode of The Backyardigans. My other usual internet nickname was taken. :)
I'm a mild-mannered 31 year-old tech nerd at a bank by day, mother and loving wife by night, and a home chef on the weekends. We live on a few acres in a rural area, which allows our family to have a some chickens and a huge garden. In the upcoming year we're going to try our hands at canning some of our lovely produce.
I'm a pretty good all-around cook who likes to learn techniques and the science behind them, then use the knowledge to make my own recipes. I love to cook for people, and believe that the act of providing a wholesome and delicious meal is one of the most important and loving things you can do for a person.

Hi Everyone, I'm 26, female, live in NYC and grew up on Long Island. I work in finance so I am stuck at a desk all day. The only thing that gets me through my boring work days is reading SE and other various food blogs. I don't know what it is but I love reading about food and restaurants. Everyone makes fun of me for it. I also love the food network, even when I hate it. I like to cook but I'm not very adventurous. I also love to eat out but don't get out as much as I wouldlike. If didn't have SE & other food sites I don't think I would survive. I can't wait until I grow up and can host parties at my house.

It's so great to learn about all of you!

Hello, I'm CookiePie -- that's what my mom calls me, even though I'm 37 and supposedly a grownup (ok, ok, stop laughing!). I'm the food editor at a fantastic women's magazine called All You. I live in Brooklyn and work in Manhattan. Serious Eats is a lot of fun for me, but it also helps me learn about what people are thinking about food and food-related issues, which is great for my work.

I've been a journalist for about 15 years, off and on -- during the off parts, I went to culinary school and spent a few years working in hotel and restaurant kitchens, catering, etc.

Aside from what I do at work, I cook and bake a ton at home, and am also in the process of writing my first cookbook. It's to be called "You Made That Dessert?", and it's for people who love food but have no cooking experience at all, so the recipes are written very simply, without any jargon. It's scheduled to come out in fall of '09.

So nice to meet you all!

Yo yo babaaayyy....ChelleyD. Actually, my given name is Michelle but I have been shortened to Chelle since I was 12. The D is of course, my last initial. Im 32, have my significant other Jake for over 5 years and the most important person in our lives is our Niece Taylor who is 10 and a total foodie.

I have owned 2 small coffee houses which, unfortunately, had to close because I didnt have enough local business. Yes, I am bitter and hateful, but that is another blog. I am a medical biller in my real life as is Jake. I was raised by my great-grandparents (it was the 70's...my parents liked heroin a little more than me!) and my great grandmother was an amazing baker but a God awful cook. I hit the kitchen around 17 and haven't really stopped. I consider myself pretty skilled in the kitchen and I have been told that "I have never seen anyone put so much attention into their food". *CLAP CLAP CLAP* I can bake but I hate it, so I try to avoid it. I would take a good salad over anything sweet any day of the week.

I still browse other websites like chow and whatnot, but I basically hang out here. Nowhere near as dramatic and serious as the other sites and the mods don't interrupt every blessed post with "sorry folks...". I hate being called folks. Chumps. I

Stacey here... better known in these parts as LoCo, an amalgam of my maiden name and hubby's last name, which we use to refer to ourselves collectively (because "loco" describes us so perfectly!). And I'm known more frequently in cyberspace as RouxTheDay, so please say howdy if you run across me out there...

I'm a native SoCalif 40-something mom/step-mom of six (plus a step-DIL), a step-granny of three, and madly in love with a semi-retired Mr. Wonderful. These days I "work" as a domestic goddess, along with sometime freelance research work from home, but mostly being semi-retired by association.

Food is one of my passions, but I don't really have many foodie friends, so I've been hanging out at SE for about a year, doing my best to scratch that constant itch. When I'm not eating or cooking or reading about food or talking about food or planning food-related activities or watching food on TV, you might find me taking care of my household duties. But probably not, because I'm more likely to be traveling the world or working on my family tree (my other all-consuming passions besides food), or working in the yard, or completely absorbed in a really good book.

I've said it before and I'll say it again: The members on this forum are quite extraordinary. I moderate other boards, and this one has by far the best sense of community and camaraderie of any I spend time on. I love it here, and never cease to be amazed at what I learn. I'm especially astonished that I've come to think of people here as my friends, in spite of never having met. It's very out of character for me, and I think it says so much about what a special website Serious Eats really is.

I'm PestoGal because it's my favorite food in the world. I live in Portland, OR and work in publishing. I, like LivetoEat, was a very picky eater as a child; my diet consisted of mostly peanut butter and jelly and ice cream. Now I'm what I call a "half-assed vegetarian," which means I don't like most meat but will eat it on occasion. I have a fledgling food blog used to document what I cook on a semi-regular basis. I cook daily and try to maintain a healthy diet.

My "handle" is a result of malnutrition as a youth, genetics, and the occasional bar clash. I learned about good food when I entered the Navy and was amazed by the quantity and variety that was offered me. I determined that when I was on my own again I would learn to cook these wondrous things, but it took me fifty years to find someone who shared my passion for good food. She and I and our 4 dogs live in paradise: the Sierras of California. I enjoy the chit-chat on SE, but don't take my comments too seriously.

Hi...moibec here. I'm a mom to 4 boys (one's married and his wife is due any day now with what we think is going to be a girl...!) and a carpenter husband. Big appetites for plain old meat & potatoes in this house. I love to cook and bake, and fight an endless battle between that love for good interesting food and the mundane tastes of my family. As I get closer to turning 50 this summer, I'm leaning towards lower-cholesterol things and trying like heck to steer away from butter......eggs........cream...........salt...........baconnnnnn............(sigh), but am not too disciplined. At all.

I read Bon Appetit and Cook's Illustrated, will pick up the odd Cuisine at Home mag or Taste of Home issue (I know, I know.....) but am always looking for really homey and realistic things to serve my crew here.

Live in Washington State (west side) and work as a Legal Secretary.

First real job: dishwasher and then prep cook.

I love Paris, France (never been there) because it's romantic. The #22 is my favorite number and 1966 is the year I was born.

Favorite writer/chef/traveller/actor: Anthony Bourdain
Favorite chefs: Mario Batali and Gordon Ramsay

:-)

I am 23 and a graduate student at NCSU and UNC-Chapel Hill in a duel archives degree program. My boyfriend of 5 years got me into cooking - although I always have loved to bake.

I grew up in NC, so I love sweet tea and bbq (no tomatoes allowed near it!), but my mom is from Boston - where I go every summer, so I love New England and seafood as well!

oh and I'm krispychikin b/c thats been my screen name since I was 13 and it comes from a nickname when I was a kid.

I'm Jeni (obviously), a 29-year-old quasi-self-employed web designer (the rest of the time is spent being sick with fibro and CFIDS, ugh). I'm originally from the NC coast, but now split my time haphazardly between Burlington, NC and Roanoke, VA.

I started cooking pretty early - about 8 or so - and by high school my love affair with food and cooking was pretty much cemented. These days, cooking is the thing I do to keep me sane and happy, since there are a lot of other things I really can't do. I read far too many cookbooks, daydream about food all the time, and expend what little extra energy I have on cooking for my friends and family.

My relationship with food has changed dramatically since I was diagnosed with fibro and discovered I was allergic to MSG. At first it was a bit of a downer - no more KFC? no more convenient conventional grocery store? - but I've taken it as a challenge and feel I've risen to meet it. SE has been pretty helpful in that regard; I love taking some of the ideas and making them my own (spring asparagus and fried eggs - amazing!). Plus, the people here rock. It's nice to be in a community that doesn't dissolve into trolling and flaming on a daily basis.

So nice to read about everyone (but I'm nosy like that...) :)

I'm Lorie--luswim06 comes from a family nickname, Lu, and the sport I used to compete in. I'm 19 and I live in central PA. I'm currently wrapping up my freshman year at PSU, where I'm majoring in Nutritional Science. I love to cook and bake (I think that I'm most looking forward to finishing my semester just so I can go home and have a real kitchen again! I have many recipes I need to test out...).Can't remember when that first urge to bake struck me, but I look for any excuse to try out a new recipe (going somewhere? gotta cook something to bring along!). Being a nutrition geek, I am trying to build a nice collection of healthy recipes, particularly those that will satisfy my sweet tooth. (Take that as a hint to anyone who may have such recipes lying around...) I happened upon Serious Eats back in the fall, and I check it daily for entertainment, recipes, and just to relate my love of food and cooking with others! Thank you all :)

I'm Vegemite (AKA Jane), from Brisbane, Australia. Vegemite is our beloved condiment which almost every child grows up eating on toast for breakfast, or sandwiches for lunch, an I'm still addicted to it. Most non-Aussies just don't get Vegemite, and think it is quite revolting, but I'm a proud Vegemite Kid!
I work for a specialty food importer/wholesaler, so I live and breathe food every day. I consider myself lucky that I grew up travelling and had the opportunity to sample many types of cuisine.
I've been cooking for most of my 39 years and love to experiment with new stuff. I don't really like to bake because measuring ingredients bores me to tears, and I don't have much of a sweet tooth, but occasionally I'll rise to the challenge...
I prefer to support local organic farmers as I think the produce tastes much better, plus you're always getting what's in season. Of course I'm on the other side of the world so while you're all waxing lyrical about the joys of spring, I'm getting ready for some serious cold weather cooking...
I really enjoy reading about what everyone's cooking and eating, and it's very entertaining at times!
Thanks for all the SE fun!

Hello everyone, I live in rural upstate New York where it snows for 5 months of the year and the local economy is dairy cows. There is a farmer's market in a nearby college town, and I cannot wait until they open in early May. I own about 200 cookbooks and love to make delicious meals for my husband and friends. I used to travel on business to European countries a lot and really enjoyed trying the local foods. Now I work at home from my computer.

I'm modysoul. It's an approximation of how you pronounce my name in Spanish...

I'm mostly here because I may not be the best cook, but I love food like no one's business. My favorite foods are pizza (Slice shoutout!) and Mexican. I miss living in Arizona and being able to get kickin' burritos anytime of the day.

I currently live in Providence, RI, and I'm lucky enough to have a year long Farmers Market! It's just indoors during the winter... We also have tons of great restaurants around here, which I frequent often.

SE is my favorite work distraction.

As I continually reference in my comments (hehehe), I am a Bostonian living in Toronto, age 33, married to a guy who likes all but five foods - make that four and allergic to one. Being employed in a country where you are not a citizen (I am a permanent resident) is sometimes a struggle so when I am not working, cooking keeps me sane. When I first moved here I tried making all kinds of things, just to keep my brain from going to moosh. One of our favorite things to do is walk to the organic market in High Park on Saturdays (when is it opening for the season? grr) and buy all kinds of things, and then go home and make lunch - either a salad or stirfry depending on what was available.

i'm a pediatric occupational therapist, a manual therapist, and i teach the alexander technique. this guarantees me at least 15 minutes of stress free small talk with new acquaintances, since most people have never heard of any one of my professions. i live and work in manhattan. i moved here from san francisco about 12 years ago and i still miss the food in california, especially the berkeley bowl, where i worked my way through university, the greenmarket at ferry plaza, the cheese board, semi-freddi's seeded baguettes, and peets, but new york is slowly catching up.

being a scholarly type, i read about my work a lot, and i love to cook and i love to read about food. recently one friend gazed for a long time at all the books on my shelves and observed that i had a lot of cookbooks... and a lot of books about human anatomy... i'm still laughing about that.

when i'm not cooking or working, i'm at the gym trying to whittle down my running time to a ten minute mile and increasing my bench press to a hundred pounds, or i'm at the theater.

i live with my cat, who will only eat dry food.

I'm Phaelon56 aka Owen O'Neill of Syracuse NY. Some of you may recall that user name from my activity as a volunteer moderator in the eGullet Forums in past years but my online food/dining activities are now focused most just browsing on SE. I am an active participant in a coffee/espresso business discussion forum as well.

Most of my adult life has been spent here in central NY state but I spent four years in Ithaca and another four in the New York City area back in the 1990's and early 2000's. For many years I've been working as a Sales Engineer in a nice technology area related to computer networking but my avocation has been the coffee business. I've done espresso machine repairs and some barista work as a side job since 2003 and started working part time as a coffee roaster in 2004 for a local multi-location cafe operator.

At present I'm close to finishing the build-out of my own roasting operation and am totally stoked. It's been a long time coming and there's plenty of work ahead but I hope to migrate into coffee as a full time business over the next two years. There are no plans for a retail coffee shop per se but I will be selling roasted beans on the Web both wholesale and retail.

I love to cook and have a moderate skill level but living alone and working the hours that I do has me subsisting at present mostly on grocery store rotisserie chicken, bagged salad and fresh pasta with sauce from the local Italian imports store....

Holla!! Butrflygirly here-love butterflies (beautiful creatures) and I'm a girl so...

I am 30 y.o. and live in Delaware-born and raised. During the day I work in the finance industry and at night I am a student trying to get a master's degree in Management. This leaves me with zero time to cook most of the time..:( But when I do-it's delicious and my BF whom I live with will help me. He's the greatest..:) I would have to say we both have a passion for food-even though I am still a picky eater.

I LOVE to cook and bake. It all started when I was little and had to have the Easy Bake Oven (oh how I loved that thing). I was also very lucky to have the (italian) mom that I did (my love for Italian food is endless). She's an amazing cook-homemade meals everyday. I picked up on that as well-and I was in the kitchen helping her prepare those meals from when I was little. We would always watch the cooking shows on Saturdays and Sundays.

I love it here and am so happy that I joined SE a couple weeks ago! It's nice to meet everyone.
Special Shout Out to JudyV..:) We have similar tastes in DE places.
@bitchincamero: Glad you clarified-I was thinking you had a hot ride..:) And love that you love the EAGLES. I'm in withdraw right now.
@brooke29: I'm with you. Cooking for someone = love. Nothing better than cooking for someone/people and they love your food.

I'm annien--Annie Newman. Long-term fan of Ed Levine, followed him to his website, saw it grow into the powerhouse it is today, very gratified to meet so many nice people along the way. 49 years old, graduate student in social work, one 18-year-old daughter who loves to cook with me. I got into cooking and foodie-ism as a way to understand and live with eating disorder. The more I know about food and nutrition, the better I can feed myself. Also, the more you know about food, the better you can use your food dollars; less waste, more fuel. I live in Kingston, NY (the Hudson Valley) and our Greenmarkets will open in about a month. Can't wait! Also please see my blog, Annie's New York Eats.(http://www.annienewman.typepad.com)

Hi everyone - sixsonnets here, aka Andi. I am 37, single, and I live/work in Westchester County, NY about half an hour north of NYC. Am something of an amateur cook but surprised how much knowledge I've picked up just from reading SE and watching a lot of cooking shows. I've been hanging around SE for a couple of months now and I really love the community and everyone's willingness to help and respond to one another. In addition to cooking I am a writer, a marketing director and a rabbi-in-training. The name sixsonnets comes from my hopefully-will-someday-be-published novel which centers around the discovery of a medieval manuscript that contains, you guessed it, six sonnets.

Hi, foodiegirl here. Not a very creative handle, as I'm not a writer like many of you. I'm 33, grew up in Chinatown, Los Angeles. I have a cousin who graduated from the CIA in New Hyde Park who's been my inspiration for going from one who thinks instant udon is gourmet, to now making stock from scratch. I love food, all aspects of it, love to try new things at least once, and that includes adrenaline related things like jumping out of a plane to bizzarre food type things, like gnawing on chicken feet at dim sum, and eating chicken sashimi in japan, that was scary given my western upbringing of raw chicken=salmonella. I love SE and getting to skim the surface of the members, from Canada, Denmark, all over, it's awesome.

Hello, I'm sarajane, first name is Sara, middle name Jane. Grew up in the farthest Chicago suburb (though some would say it was the beginning of farmland). Married my high school sweetheart and moved to a closer in suburb. By day I'm an office manager in the scintillating world of industrial automation, by night, I'm a mixed media artist. I love to cook, having inherited that love and some skill from a German grandmother, a Welsh-Canadian grandmother (who was never afraid to try cooking something new and passed along her love of hoarding recipes) and my mother, who was also a great, fearless cook. I cook mostly from scratch, and one of the best compliments I ever got was from a friend who lived with us for a while: "You don't have any food in the house - only ingredients!" SE is a fabulous trove of information for the food-obsessed - sometimes serious, sometimes trivial, often very useful, but always entertaining and informative.

Matt here...a.k.a onepercent99....53, happily married, living in florida,a small town north of Tampa......assistant meat manager at a large grocery store where EVERYONE, customers and employees, flock to me when they want to know how to cook something! I love to cook,any kind of food,but always something different.I used to decorate wedding cakes for a side business ,but it got way too stressful. Trying to deliver and set up an hour before the reception....WHEW....couldn't take the stress,so now i only do cakes for family.I love buying any kind of cookbooks, i can sit and read them like most people read a good novel. When i cook for my wife,most of the time she's pleasantly suprised with the results and when she asks me my secret i ALWAYS say" I cooked it with love Babe"...lol....thats kind of like a family joke now. Nice reading about you all!!!!...hi MrsBao !!!!

I'm woodenspoon, named after a kitchen essential. I'm 22 and live in Washington, DC, where I work at a nonprofit. Grew up in Ohio as a very picky eater and have come a long way, though I still can't shed that label entirely. My family always laughs that I'll eat raw fish but won't touch a potato.

I've always liked to bake and cook and starting helping my parents do both at a pretty early age. Of course, my favorite part was licking the batter or trying the sauce, and whenever my dad would frost a cake, he'd squeeze some leftover icing right into my mouth. No wonder I have a sweet tooth.

Discovered SE about a year ago and love the mix of recipes, forums, news and photos!

I'm a forty-something Appalachian office drone who, were it not for the pesky need for insurance & salary, would happily spend her days tending a garden and baking.

For as long as I can remember, the creation and consumption of food has been my favorite topic. This must be the result of some strong gene, as my four year old spends every waking second wondering when, where & how he will get his next morsel.

I collect cookbooks (200 strong), love to create memorable birthday cakes for my kids and am currently trying to organize a circa 1950 kitchen to hold all my cooking, baking & serving gear.

How nice it is to spend a few moments each day in a cyberworld with like- minded people!

Well hi, everyone! As you could probably guess, I'm Liz and I live in NYC. I'm 25, I write ads, and I'm originally from the SF Bay Area. My parents recently relocated to South Carolina (where most of the extended family is) so, I have a great interest in and appreciation for the main food cultures in my life - city food, california cuisine (which was just food, growing up!) and southern food.

I'm young(ish) and on a tight budget, so the kitchen is a source of adventure for me - how little can I spend while still getting the flavors I want? I also love love love to bake and cook for friends and family. I'd love to write more about all of that, but I'm stuck for a blog name. SO many people out there have taken the domain names of blogs I'd want, and haven't used the darn things since the beginning of the century!

So, that's me.

I'm Joanne from Indiana. "AuntJone" came from my niece, who first started calling me "Aunt Doh", which morphed into "Aunt Doan" and finally became "Aunt Jone". That's how she spelled it on a thank you card one year and it stuck. We had a terrible time convincing the child that my name was really JO-ANNE...

Anyhoo...I'm a life long Hoosier and just celebrated my first anniversary with my second husband. We're expecting our first child in September and I have a wonderful 14 y/o boy from my first marriage, plus 2 ornery little terriers, 2 gerbils and more fish than I can count.

My first cooking experiences involved whatever weeds and mud were available in our big yard when I was quite small. My sister and I had all kinds of play dishes so I mixed up horrid concoctions but had a wonderful time of it. Later I dabbled a bit in the kitchen (with actual food) but not much, so my mom was suprised when I announced that was going to culinary school. It only took me 8 years to finish a 2 year program (going part time and working full time) but I finally graduated last summer and am looking forward to the day when I can permanently trade in my computer and office chair for kitchen clogs and oven mitts. I do work part time at a camp kitchen (which I love) and hope to transition to the world of food service full time in the next year or two.

Baking is my passion but I love cooking in general. I get great satisfaction from creating something to nourish my loved ones. I read SE nearly every day (fabulous time waster at work!) and comment on a semi-regular basis. I've learned alot from the site and enjoy interacting with other people who "get me".

@BITTER; I am the queen of dumb questions so you are good to go on that one!

Hi, I’m Gardener, and the name obviously points to one of my passions. I live north of San Francisco in the Sonoma wine country and am definitely spoiled with year-round farmers’ markets, fresh fish, local cheese, and great wine, of course! I am married, no children, have one spoiled cat, and I am firmly convinced that 50 is the new 30. I work at home, spend long hours at the computer, and love the occasional (hah) distraction of reading about food and researching recipes.

My first cooking experience was getting a little boy in the neighborhood to eat my mud cookies (very special with the added texture of peat moss). I graduated to real meat loaf in junior high and by high school was throwing dinner parties with the Gourmet Cooking Club (paella!). By the time I went off to college I was reading food magazines and cookbooks, clipping recipes, and insisting on a real dinner every night while my roommate thought anything other than Campbell’s soup and Tab was really just too much to contemplate.

Today, I still insist on a real dinner every night and it’s usually prepared by me, and my husband is happy to clean up except for when I make one of my famous “simple dinners”. He claims they employ the most pans, utensils, etc. but I personally don’t see what he is talking about. I collect vintage cookbooks and have a particular passion for mid-century pamphlets featuring the scariest food imaginable (think “Cocktail Wieners in Aspic”). My own cooking style features lots of fresh herbs and vegetables, liberal use of garlic and olive oil, and, damn the cholesterol, good cheese.

I love to garden and this time of year finds me digging in the dirt and planting, planting, planting. We’re putting in a vegetable garden again this summer and I can’t wait to hit the local garden club plant sales. Basil and tomatoes from my garden and I am one with the universe.

I'm Ginger CM - really named Ginger, don't have red hair. I split time between Tampa and a small town south of Atlanta (where I'm a college professor in mass comm at Flannery O'Connor's alma mater). I love to read about food, though I'm gluten (and a bunch of other things) intolerant and can't eat most of the stuff I see on here. I have a gf blog (gfingf.blogspot.com) and jokingly call myself the GF Paula Deen. 'Cept she's way, way richer than I am.
I am on Twitter with the same screen name and also on Facebook.

I'm levinedym, a 20 year-old Filipino-Chinese in the Philippines. Still preparing for a job (just graduated -- two days ago!), but it will definitely be in the infotech/compsci field.

I don't actually cook ('cause I still live with my parents), but I plan to do so when I go out into the big bad world on my own. I am a foodie; I love reading, looking, smelling, feeling, and tasting good food. I'm an Asia-phile (since I live here), but Western Cuisine is totally an option.

I stumbled on SE while 'Net surfing for a recipe for my mom. It's been part of my morning ritual ever since!

HappyHoarfrost is the name of my blog, which is irony as seen through the lens of that lusty, all-purpose metaphor: FOOD. www.happyhoarfrost.com
I am also a mother, full-time artisan & mompreneur, who is "somewhere between 20 and 40." [My company, The Happy Tomato www.happytomatokids.com
is a line of hand-printed clothing based on a series of my wood-block carvings, which I started to contribute to my Wegman's bills, and to guard against the often mind-numbing monotony of staying home with infants. I am starting to move into food prints, so if you have any ideas, there is a big audience-participation factor, so drop me a line. I bet Serious Eatsians'd have some interesting and obscure requests--because hey--where else are you going to FIND a magalista hog belly t-shirt or a Leeks diaper-cover?]
I adore Michael Ruhlman, and Anthony Bourdain, and religiously read The French Laundry at Home blog which makes my bladder explode.
Though I greatly enjoy Bourdain's poor judgement as a rule, I don't care WHAT he'd say: I have a not-so covert adoration for Bobby Flay, and his *sigh, 14-inch tongs. (It's become a gag-theme to see how I can work him into my blog posts, which I almost always find a way to do.)
I love reading, massaging, pondering and writing about food, especially meat, gently mocking Vegans, who fascinate and confuse me, and am disappointed/secretly pleased with myself that I never stick to a recipe, which is why I can't bake.
And I'm an Aries, which doesn't interfere at all with my lamb-consumption.

I am 45 years old and am feeling quite cool to be in the company of so many 20-somethings. I have two boys, ages 7 and 4, and one hungry husband. I live in Davis Calif. where the University of Calif. had its original 'farm school.' Food is a big deal here - lots of CSA, organic, local food - but strangely no great restaurants.

I lived in Kuala Lumpur as a kid and have traveled throughout most of southeast Asia and through western Europe. I love Asian food (am still searching for the right marinade for satay) and French, and Italian, and ...
well, you get the picture.

I am trying to keep our diet as healthy as possible - so no prepared foods (well, OK, I don't bake our bread and I buy pasta). I feel very lucky that my kids are adventurous eaters (they love mussels and tonight we had linguine with white clam sauce which they gobbled up!). I love food and look forward to meals all day long. I also love variety so I like to cook food from many different cultures. Wonder what will be on tomorrow's menu!

PS I wish Jerzee Tomato would post here - I love reading her comments!

Ok ok I hear you.
I am Jerzee tomato, I am from Jersey. I been a lurker for a long time. I started my lurking over with Jason on Egullet. Then as years progressed I just went wandering and landed on the beta of SE. I am an italian american food snob. I live in Penciltucky not far from Perky Mac. I shop therefore I am.
This is like that Steve Miller song... I am a joker, a chicken smoker and a midnight poster.
I cook, I bake, I fiddle with recipes. I drive 40 miles for cheese.
I came to SE with an open mind. This is a great welcoming place. We throw around ideas, recipes, techniques and our love of food.
I carry with me a love of food ingrained in me from birth. Something so strong that it calls to me in the smell of a basil leaf, the rough sack of some flour, the bright label of a jar. It says to me " what can you do with me?" This is my story on how the pantry got to be so big and why it is so full, so no one tell the Husband.
In 2002 I gave up a new car for a new kitchen. It was the addiction of all time and I don't want to be cured. I go to Philly, Baltimore, Lancaster, Raleigh and any where in between. My haunts are farmers markets, odd graineries, cheese shops and out of the way places to find things I have never had before. I adore Wegman's, Fresh Market, Trader Joe's and the odd Shop Rite.
I speak many kinds of food.
I am an entertainer. The holidays are usually at my house and I have the menu done for them months before. I like the control (freak) that having them here affords me.
My mother is a fairly good cook. I harassed and bullied her till she let me take over the kitchen. Ever had an 8 year old throw you out of your kitchen. Why they did not beat my ass I will never know. It stuck. I stood on chairs till I was 12 to reach the stove.
Everything that is online, Cooks Illustrated, King Arthur, Williams-Sonoma, Penzeys; I ordered before the internet. I got many things via catalog.
I am a gardner. I grow basil and tomatoes and a few other things. I can my own tomatoes and have done so forever.
Twirling like Julie Andrews with a baguette...these are a few of my favorite things. SE is my home and my friends are here.

Hey BAngieB - are you on Jezebel as well?

My name is Mike age 51 and I live in Houston, Texas. I have been married for 29 years and have 3 grown kids. I am a hamburger fanatic. They say I will be buried between two buns.

I do almost all the cooking at my house. If I get bored or frustrated, I start making bread and pizza.

I love the Food Network. Serious Eats, AHT and HollyEats.

I have three websites: Eatorama.com, MrBadIdeas.com, FreeEnterpriseland.com and a myspace page.

Eatorama and MrBadIdeas share the Hamburger Porno page -"which makes some people sick and some people drool".

@izatryt - great minds think alike, and ask the same dumb questions ROFL.

My name is Hillary, I'm 22 and I work in the publishing industry. I love to write for my food blog called Chew on That and I LOVE the Serious Eats Talk forum :)

Thanks for starting this thread!

PerkyMac adding my 2 cents (there is no symbol on my 'puter for cents!). I live in the Perkiomen Valley in PA, hence the Perky (just turned 60 so my girls are NOT so much anymore....I used to be able to pass the pencil test, now I can hold the whole pack.....haha). My Irish last name begins with Mc, but is pronounced Mac. Some have taken that to think I'm male. I have the formerly perky girls bouncing out front, so I'm definitely female. My mother and grandmother were both gourmet cooks and I learned as much as I could from them, but can't compare. Out of four siblings, only one isn't obsessed with food and cooking, but he is a damn good cook - much better than his wife (so is the other brother), but shhhhhhh......don't tell my sisters-in-law. I loved cooking for my family, and lived the Norman Rockwell life for 40 of my 60 years. Now I'm alone. I've been facing major life challenges for some time now and could use your prayers. I try to deal with all types of pain by putting myself in a happier place and I love to discuss food and laugh, not necessarily in that order. SE has been a real comfort, diversion and joy, and I thank you all!
p.s. izatryt and JerzeeTomato are practically neighbors! Howdy y'all!!!

Hi!
I'm hanak.....Honey Kandel. Love to cook,bake,collect cookbooks and on and on. A New Yorker for my whole life. Moved to Easton, PA near the Delaware River 4 years ago.Still go to NY all the time. Have lots of property with 2 dogs, 2 Shetland Sheep (oops since I got the sheep I am also knitting) and 12 adorable chickens (since I got the chickens I am also selling some eggs and eating a lot of them. It's hard finding room in the fridge for 12 dozen at a time!)

When I'm not cooking, I'm thinking about what I want to cook later.
I'd be lying if I said I did not love going to the supermarker too........been known to travel miles just to find the perfect ingredient. I am trying to cut down on that since it is not a very green idea. So happy the farmers markets are opening .

My husband and I run a pet supply internet business for the last 20 or so years and we sell interesting products all over the world. Best part is our office is on the property so I can goof off at times and cook or garden or snoop around this site!

The kids are grown 1 in SF 1 NYC.

Looks like there are still a few of us "older ones" (forget 60 is really the new 50 it's really the new 40) lurking here. I'm in front of the computer most of the day and would be lying if I said I did not check in several times daily to see whats up on SE.

You guys are all so entertaining and this thread really puts a face on those of you out there............this is a great idea. Love it Loveit!

*panting* Sorry I'm late!

I'm Kerry in Albany, NY. My grandparents called me Kerosena when I was little. I'm 32 and work in legal services. Finally getting my act together to take the LSAT in June, and totally scared about it.

I've always loved to cook and get creative in the kitchen. It is my biggest stress-reliever. Since I've been here at SE, I have definitely branched out and tried new ingredients and recipes. I started a recipe journal in January, and my goal is to catalogue each new dish I make this year. I'm also going to buy a digital camera so I can stop showing my friends an co workers pictures of my food on my phone.

Started working as a dishwasher at age 14, and worked in various kitchens and markets for many years. I always like to be in the food.

@PerkyMac: I was wondering when you were going to come on the thread. I've been lookin for ya! Loved reading your bio and it's nice to "meet" you...:) hope you're having a good day!!

Hi everyone, AliceBlue here (Alice is me, Blue is my cat.) Sorry I'm a bit late to the game; I haven't been online much this week because I was busy defending my Master's Project (successfully, btw.) I was raised by a vegetarian 'eat-to-live' mom who didn't understand that children need to be fed, so I started cooking for myself pretty early. Now I spend all the time I don't spend in Public History planning menus, and cook for 12 of my closest friends every Sunday night. I knew this was the community for me when the discussion came up about looking at the contents of other people's grocery carts...I remember being about fourteen years old and being really proud that everything in my cart was 'real' food. My cooking passion is for making comfort food, and always make it a point to know what my friends need to eat when they're feeling low (and then, of course, making it for them...) I'm about to graduate with my MA; if anyone in the Baltimore area needs to hire a Historian gimme a shout (since a paycheck goes a long way to keeping the pantry full.)

I'm C, totally a home cook but I love ot live vicariously through those who are not. I'm 29, married and an office drone.

Real name withheld as per arrangements set up by my lawyer.

Occupation: underpaid, underappreciated technical illustrator, publisher, web designer
Location: San Jose
Employment history: lengthy, nowhere does it include the title of "head chef"
Educational history: high school, college, life
Cooking philosophy: drench it in alcohol, set it on fire, serve
Interesting tidbit: in 1980 or 1981 my mother turned down the opportunity to have her own cooking show on PBS; now that she's gone it has been my duty to keep the "stunt cookery" going strong.

I'm late as well. Busy week.
I'm fairly new to SE; don't post a lot but love the site. I've sent it to everyone I know who loves food.
I'm Barbara and live in South Carolina, where I work at a mid-sized daily newspaper by day and cook and garden the rest of the time.
Hopefully, I'm tilling my garden tomorrow to get ready to plant tomatoes next weekend. Maybe some beans, squash and cukes, too.
And that means canning season is right around the corner. Nothing is better than pulling out a "jar of summer" in the middle of winter.

@chiff, you're right... where are the cocktails and horse-doovers?

Imagine how much fun that party would be!!

Are there any vegetarian doovers for those of us who are not horse-ivores? (kidding!)

doovers for me too!

@CookiePie......horse-ivores is very clever. I have to stick to my father's pronunciation, horses ovaries. All appetizers are therefore and forevermore female, whether they contain horse or any other mammal, mammary glands or not.

I hope more contributors and readers chime in and introduce themselves. It's so interesting to put a face, so to speak, on each other. Of course, my memory is totally shot, so I'll have to revisit this thread often to refresh.

Regarding the party, you want I should bring a box of Jello?

@Perky!!!! my mom used to call them "horse-ovaries" somehow this made them unappealing to me. Yeah bring that "box of jello" on over.... but only if it's in the form of Jello shots...LOL TGIF!

hey, i'm teri, i think i might be the youngest person on this thread here
i'm 17, and i currently live in Belize, but i am originally from Taiwan, so i grew up eating traditional chinese food.
i am graduating from highschool this summer, and i'm going to study restaurant management.
i love all kinds of food and i want to learn how to make them, so i found this site, which i love, because there's new updates everyday to keep me entertained.

I'm Stushi -- a very convenient nom de SE -- I live in Seattle with my sweetie of, eek, twenty years (we got together in 1988 and moved here from Boston in 1990) tho I spent my first thirty-two years in my native New York. I'm a diabetic, so I really appreciate the food porn at Serious Eats and that my pharmacy at Fred Meyer (owned by Kroger's) has put my diabetes meds on low generic pricing this month. (now if they could do it with the expensive branded cholesterol med Crestor and my blood pressure meds...).

We went out to Dine-Out to Fight Aids yesterday, a great program, to the 74th Street Alehouse in Seattle. Terrific food in impressive portions (I had a good attempt at a Thai-style Beef Salad with my Diet Pepsi and my wife had a combo of interesting Goat Cheese Salad and cup of darkly roux'd Gumbo) and 30% of the bill went to the charity. Good food and good works, what a deal. And we walked home (OK, I walked and she used her disabiltiy scooter).

Hello- I am Betsy S and just discovered SE yesterday! The introductory posts are oh-so entertaining and fun. I love to eat, I love to cook, I love to feed my family and friends, I love to dine out and travel for fun and inspiration, I love to read about food and shop for food. I have a food related business so I am totally immersed in what I love. I look forward to spending time here.all the best to you all. I forgot. I was born and raised in Seattle WA and have lived here for the majority of my life. I have been married for 33 years and have 3 grown children and two adorable grandchildren. I might be "an Oldie" but I am definitely a goodie!

Jami, female, 20, TX, engineering college student. I love to eat, but am not a serious cook like most on SE. I enjoy cooking, and have made my share of delicious dishes. I'm what many would consider an amateur cook and wannabe foodie. I grew up wanting to be a food critic just so I could eat for free, but alas...not to be... :)

I'm mostly just sitting back reading articles/threads, taking in the good advice and trying out new recipes. I don't say much, mostly because I don't know too much about cooking to have an informed competent opinion/comment. I'm using this as a learning, educational and relaxing experience.

Smallblondemom. Sorry I am really, really late but we are moving house and country again. I am 53, mother of three tall, dark haired, beauties (hence the handle), married and became an expat 27 years ago. Lived in Paris for 4 years (1 baby), moved to Hong Kong for 7 years (two more babies), then to London for 6 years (picked up two cats along the way), then to Singapore for the past 10 years (and added a beagle and another cat). Now the whole package is getting moved back to the USA. This should be interesting. I love to cook and have been lucky enough to explore some of the greatest cuisines in the world right in their hometowns. Along the way I have discovered that the art of substitution is essential! Now I am excited to be going home and exploring what has become, for me, another new country

I'm female, age not relevant, because I don't feel like I'm as old as the number say. Married for nearly forever. Grew up in the suburbs of Chicago, where good food was easy. Moved to Colorado, and until recently the best take-out pizza was Pizza Hut. No, really. The rest were THAT BAD.

I've always like to cook, but since moving here I've been cooking things that I just took for granted in Chicago. For instance, I can't get good Italian sausage, so I make my own.

I work from home, which means that I usually have time to babysit long-cooking meals or keep an eye on rising bread. I cook mostly from scratch, but sometimes nothing but the blue box of mac n' cheese will do.

Oh, and I love kitchen gadgets.

I'm NuJoi. I worked for a few years at finding joy and peace in my life. I'e kept the name for 10 years although I need to get back to those practices now. The Nu is a nod to the ancient land of Nubia. I'm in my 30s. I work in advertising, but I think the cooking thing is supposed to be my career. I love kitchen gadgets and teaching people how to cook.My dream is to own a version of a Sur La Table store, complete with the wonderful kitchen.

People keep suggesting becoming a personal chef or owning a restaurant, but I don't want to do that. Right now, I'm really happing just writing about my cooking adventures on my blog, http://nujoikitchendiary.blogspot.com/ I wish I was better at html, so that I could figure out the link thing. Thank God for Blogger.

@chisai..........you're not late, the party's just getting started and there are still so many who haven't chimed in yet. We'll wait for you!

I was watching for you and so glad you made it! How nice to know a little more about you and all of our cyber friends.

Weekend lurkers.......join us!!!!!

I'm Val, I'm 26, I grew up in New Jersey, and I'm in Baltimore now. I spend my days as a corporate drone, which pays the bills. I like to experiment in the kitchen, and my track record is pretty good (with some disasters sprinkled in for good measure)

My current food obsession is with pho, so if anybody knows where good pho in Baltimore can be found, let me know!

@Littlebluesiren & Hungrygrl: Go Pittsburgh Pens! My Lord, I don't know if you like hockey, but whatta' comeback last night. I was so happy that I snarfed my Yuengling and spilled it on myself! Having Crosby and Malkin on our team is like Gretzky and Messier in Edmonton in the '80s -- they're gonna be great. Brace yourselves!

@delicious life & shelby: Wanted to give a shout out in support of the ever-dying breed of home-cooking and gardening legal professionals. Please. Do not give up your calling to cook or garden so you can spend all of your free time playing golf!

Ok, Renzata here, handle = name + vestigial initial. Future legal professional, current student. Longest previously held job was cooking for a fancy food shop in London. Born/raised in Houston, undergrad in NYC, 2 yr break in London, now in Austin, soon in Edinburgh.

Obsessed with cooking/kitchen stuff/eating from infancy, didn't really start cooking until I was 20 (not really encouraged in the house, no kitchen in fresh/soph dorms), and couldn't stop since then. My biggest complaint for current cooking habits is lack of people to feed. Only me and my husband. This is not an oblique reference to offspring, rather to limited social circle that all works evenings. Boo freakin' hoo, I know.

Hello, I'm Renee, I am a 24 year old medical student at the University of Connecticut. I currently live in Waterbury, CT. After my college graduation I moved to Oaxaca, Mexico for a while where I became enamored with the food. Every day I make new recipes (except during the week before exams), and they are usually Mexican (especially Oaxacan) or other types of Latin American. I especially love using a variety of fresh and dried chiles, and I love seafood, although a student's budget prevents me from indulging too much. :)

I will be spending this summer in Puerto Rico doing research, and am thinking about starting a blog to include my food travels and recipes. If anyone has any suggestions on how to get started, I would love to hear them!

I've been lurking for a good month now...what a wonderful way to come clean about that!

I am Kelly, 24, from Long Island (as the name implies) and work as a reading teacher and in a fantastic family owned estate vineyard. I got serious about food two years ago when I needed an escape from the tortures of grad school. I had the misfortune to marry the world's pickiest eater though it doesn't stop me from whipping up feasts for friends and family on the regular. All your bios have been awesome to read. This site rocks!

Anyone for an Avocado Eggroll or some Artichoke Dip?? Salsa? Guacamole?

Yum! Count me in @chiff!!

Hi, I'm STH, and if you spend any time on progressive political blogs, you may have seen my handle before. I just recently started getting into reading food blogs, and I'm really enjoying Serious Eats. I'm a 43-year-old woman who lives in eastern Washington (about a 4-hour drive from renewbee--hi, neighbor!) I'm a self-taught cook, as my father doesn't cook at all and my mother does her best, but isn't what you might call gifted in that area (as she'd be the first to tell you). She says that she learned 7 entree recipes when she got married, one for each day of the week, and she pretty much still has the same repertoire! I'm a little bit more adventurous than that, but have plenty to learn; I've just joined a CSA for the first time, so this summer will be spent learning to cook some unfamiliar produce. My focus is on healthy cooking with lots of vegetables, whole grains, a little meat for flavor, and few processed ingredients; I have a hard time making a recipe without tinkering with it to make it a little healthier. I'm inordinately proud of the fact that people who eat my cooking are usually surprised at how good it tastes, considering how healthy it is!

Hello All SE! My name is Amber and I'm a 21 year old student soon-to-be graduate. SE is like my refuge. I come here when I should be studying/working. I love food and have since I was old enough to wield cooking implements. I mostly bake as I don't have the cash flow to buy all the ingredients I want to use in my cooking and I have to use the communal sorority kitchen. I can't wait to find a job (scary and frustrating but I keep trying) as well as a kitchen that is (mostly) my own. Thanks for all the humor and compassion I have found from this blog!

Hi! I'm Meryl, and I LOVE SE! I'm 41 and I live in north, central Massachusetts with my husband and two dogs, Petey and Elvis (hence my userID). In addition to food, I really enjoy photography. I try to combine those loves in my blog (http://mylittleworldoffood.blogspot.com/) and started a flickr page.

In my other life, I'm a high school Spanish teacher and I studied in Queretaro, Mexico and in Costa Rica. I'm really fascinated by Mexican cooking. I also want to start experimenting more with some Asian ingredients.

The area of MA that I live in is really the middle of no where. There are fewer than 5,000 people in my town, and it is a long drive to get ethnic or gourmet ingredients (or a trip to the Internet).

I would really like to have more foodie friends, I'm a little alone in my passion. So I'm very into making foodie connections on the Internet.

Hallo! I'm Dandan, a 20-some grad student living in New York, recently upgraded from ramen & spam to actual food, and I blame y'all here for making my dietary tastes so "frou frou". ;)
Not altogether a cooking person, but a huge eater and drinker. And I'd really love to get into food pr0n - I mean, photography.

I'm Steph from Duluth, MN. I have always enjoyed cooking, baking, BBQ etc... I love this site for the pictures, recipes, humor and the best (and funniest) Top Chef reviews on the internet! Nice to meet you all.

I'm Julie. I am 40 and live in a Maryland suburb of DC. I'm so jealous of those of you who have easy access to real butchers and fishmongers, not to mention local produce all year long. I make do with the local Whole Foods and a tiny farmers' market from May to October. I believe that heaven will be like the Ferry Plaza farmers' market.

I enjoy cooking, but it's almost always just for me. I would like to cook for my friends, but most of them were raised on extremely plain and bland food. No onions! No mushrooms! No non-orange cheeses! Heaven forbid I should set fish or seafood before them. Since I grew up in the Baltimore area, nothing hits the spot like [insert shellfish here] covered in Old Bay.

Last summer, I decided that (for health reasons) I just couldn't eat processed food or fast food anymore, so I've been forced to expand my repertoire. Also forced to buy some new clothes, because scratch cooking seems to equal weight loss. Next step is to improve my knife skills so I can be faster and more efficient in the kitchen. I read SE for hints, tips, and recipe ideas. Cheers!

Hi. I'm Blue Iris. Have been lurking a few weeks. I'm 66 but always end up hanging with you young sprouts. Maybe because I'm the oldest of a pretty spread-out eight, and childhood influences never really quit.

I love to cook, but am not professional, and garden and read and write.

I live alone in a tiny house in Albuquerque. I have noticed several mentions of not having enough people to cook for. That was a good kick in the butt for me and today I resolved to get inviting people so I can cook for them. Maybe more later.....

I do manage to cook real meals for myself most of the time. Usually skillet deals starting with olive oil and onions (hard to go wrong there), vegetables, rice, sometimes chicken or pork and especially interesting flavor combinations I pick up from reading recipes. That's the most fun for me: finding things like sweet potatoes and thyme, lemon-capers-olive oil, chicken-onions-grapes, and so on.

This site is so friendly and full of fun-whacky folks without creepy-whacky folks. I love it. Thanks to all who work on it.

Hi, I'm Christine, a 19 year old college student (studying music) at the University of Chicago, although I grew up in DC. I'm not really sure how I became so obsessed with cooking and food, but it happened somewhere around 5 years ago. I started out mostly baking (usually in the middle of the night after doing homework as a way to de-stress before going to bed at 3 am). Now I love to cook anything, even meat for my family and friends (I'm a vegetarian). I LOVE farmers markets, read about 15 food blogs, have a cookbook buying problem, always read cookbooks cover-to-cover before making anything out of them, and am a total perfectionist in the kitchen. While I wish I had huge amounts of free time to make elaborate feasts from my favorite cookbooks, that's definitely not the case. The majority of my cooking endeavors at college are making interesting improvised pasta dishes for my roommate and trying to figure out how to make food that's delicious, doesn't take up much space, and portable (so I can bring lunch and dinner to campus in my already overflowing book bag).
I also have a food blog, although I've recently become discouraged because no one commented after my first post (granted there was a large space of time between the first and the second, so I don't blame them). http://www.bakingwithbach.blogspot.com
Favorite food: really good margherita pizza
Least favorite ingredient: green peppers

Hi everyone, I'm Celine. I am a grad student (studying Comp Lit) in Berkeley who probably cooks more than she reads. I have a food blog (like many of you, it seems!): http://purplesnack.blogspot.com. I, too, am sad when no one leaves comments. I read SE religiously, along with at least a dozen other food blogs. I love farmers markets and wish I could afford to shop at them exclusively. I like to make slow-cooked meats, poached eggs, middle eastern/Turkish dishes I grew up with, and basically anything else delicious. I love spicy foods and stinky cheeses. I do not bake.

I also (of course) like to eat, especially my mother's and grandmother's cooking. I love to sample the incredible array of restaurants-- from taco trucks to fine dining-- we have around here. There are a lot of foodies in the Bay Area. If you are one of them, I would love to eat with you :) Leave me a message on my blog if you'd like.

My name's Binhong Lu. I'm about to graduate from the University of Virginia with a degree in history. After repeatedly doing independent research on various topics in food history, I realized that I was probably going to end up working in food somewhere. I'm planning to spend the next year doing the grunt work for a local fine dining restaurant, after which I'm going to either attend a culinary school or hope to find an apprenticeship somewhere. I'm located in Charlottesville, which is in itself a great food town, but am always looking for gems nearby. There's also a lot of other stuff I do, but who knows if any of it would interest anyone here?

@valser - there's a new-ish pho place in Columbia, Pho Dat Thanh. It's on Snowden River Pkwy. I haven't tried it, nor am I familiar enough with pho to know if it's good, but it's next to my favorite Indian restaurant, so I keep walking past it and thinking I should go in.

My name is Patricia, but I generally go by Patty. I guess I am technically a lawyer, but am in the works of studying to become a high school history teacher. Though I live in northern NJ, I do try to go to NYC to try out all the great food the city has to offer. As of late, I am trying extra hard since I will be moving out to Northern California soon.

I found out about Serious Eats through reading the food blog, The Amateur Gourmet. I enjoy eating, baking, and cooking, though I am one of those people who always has to use a recipe and not just cook on the fly. The only exceptions are when it's something pretty basic, like an egg salad sandwich or rice.

whats up everyone... my name on here comes from the TV show arrested development, I made it before I knew what my blog would be called. or even before I knew I would have a blog. but as the food pictures piled up on my hard drive, I figured I should put them to good use! my site is thefoodinmybeard.com I live in bermuda, moved here from boston a year ago for work. im 25, male

My name is Davekatz and I’m a geek - food geek, photography geek, kayaking geek - it doesn’t matter. I always tend to take my interests and hobbies and push them a little bit further.

With food, I started out doing little more than bachelor survival cooking, but I always had a taste for the good stuff. Over the years, I’ve figured out how to put it consistently on the table and I’ve gotten a lot of joy out of pushing my abilities, learning new skills, developing new recipes, and making tasty chow for friends and family.

Of all the cooking techniques I’ve explored, it’s hard to beat live fire cooking. My dear wife got me a Big Green Egg a few years ago and we’ve had a lot of fun putting this ceramic cooker through its paces.

We have a website featuring a selection of our recipes and descriptions of some of our cooks at Gelina and Dave's Adventures - Our Big Green Egg

I also write for the Get Your Grill On food blog.

This has taken me awhile because writing is not my passion. In fact, I'm a terrible writer! My real passion is good food, cheese and wine. I love to cook and am always looking to expand my recipe collection. My real name is Catharine, but I'm known as Mselegant on this site. I arrived at this name several years ago when I started collecting Fostoria (Versailles) elegant glassware. I now have a huge collection in pink, green, blue and gold. I'm a native of Southern Californiatand live part time in South Lake Tahoe. SE is a fantastic site and the topics are always so interesting. Beware to any new visitors - this site is addicting!

Hey.....I'm Stacy. I live outside of DC. I'm in the radio biz. I do 4 daily shows, heard locally and on satellite radio (both in the U.S. and overseas). My major passion is anything food/cooking/baking related. I spend a good part of my day online reading food blogs and anything to do with crappy reality tv (hopelessly addicted to that, too).

Love Serious Eats!! Great site!

Hola! I'm Jym Brittain, I dont hide behind a screen name, so I use jymbrittain. I'm both a doctoral student and a college instructor/administrator. I'm 43. I've been happily married for 17 years. I'm the father of a very active 4 year old boy. My wife would agree that I do about 90% of the cooking and she's grateful. I've been cooking since I was 7, learning first at the elbow of my Mom and my Nana (grandmother from Malta) then through the cooking shows on PBS and now the FoodPorn channel and PBS.

My passion is bringing a plethora of flavors, styles, techniques and dishes to the dinner table to share with family and friends. Having lived in 4 different states and having traveled to a few different countries helps with this. Culinarily speaking I'm probably best known for my take on Chicago deep dish pizza with Chourico and for trying to form a dinner club in my rural college town.

Hi,

I just found this wonderful site -- I found a link at FoodNetwork.com. I live in New Hampshire, love cooking and experimenting with new types of dishes. As a cook, I've gone from a repeating 15-20 dishes to new dishes everyday (or so).

I'm particulary found of Ellie Krieger's Healthy Appetite, Ina Garten's Barefoot Contessa.

I also collect cookbooks - and my favorite right now (non-FoodNetwork) is Gordon Hamersley's Bistro Cooking At Home. Gordon owns a local Bistro in nearby Boston.

Looking forward to a long association with you all!

Mrs. L, a, ahem, 40 something (at least for two more weeks) who is just learning to cook and dealing with the fact that I own over 500 cookbooks (over 400 that have never been cooked from!). I live in San Jose CA and I see dead people for a living (no really, I manage a cremation business). I love serious eats to help me find out what's going on in the food world and to make me feel even more behind cuz I cook recipes I see here rather than open up one of my many cookbooks!

Bro recently made these avocado eggrolls for a party. They are wonderful. We didn't use a sauce - no one noticed :D.

Whip 'em up and bring 'em down to the party!!

I'm Rosezilla (named for my three year old daughter and the giant lizard thing that stomped Tokyo...it's what I call her when she's being...how you say...willful). My real handle is Mandy. I live in Santa Barbara County again after growing up here, but lived for 11 years in western Sonoma County...home of fabulous food and wines. It spoiled me rotten, to become an adult surrounded by all of that luscious produce and foodie opportunity. I managed a microbrewery's kitchen for 6 years, and have SERIOUS opinions about ales, should anyone care for them. Now I'm a home cook primarily, although I do a little catering here and there. My daughter's favorite foods are salmon and broccoli, so I feel as though I've triumphed a bit over the three-year-old beige-food diet. We do, however, eat at McDonald's every Friday after school...it's our little Happy Meal indulgence...and those tiny cheeseburgers are SOOO good. I live with and cook for my mother, as well. I am dating a high school band director, who has actually LOST weight being with me, as he's eating more asparagus and less fast food. I think that size 14 should be the new size 6. I am curvy, healthy, happy and active...and think that excellent foods should be part of everyone's diet. I am active in the "S'Cool Food" movement here, which tries to bring local and sustainable healthy food into school cafeterias. And I love, love, love this website.