My love for fine food and dining dates back to my early childhood growing up in an Italian family, where the love of food truly came from the heart. My Nonna, would prepare feasts that could feed a New York City block, but were simply for another Sunday. The table would be crowded with ravioli, roasts, soups, salads and vegetables. The meats came from the butcher down the road, and the breads always came from the local bakery. The wine was always plenty, and her apple pies were envied by all. Course after course, the table was always set with the finest of dishes and were picture perfect, long before tablescapes were in fashion.
My love for the kitchen came from my mother, who always loved a good gadget, and valued quality products. Our kitchen was very small, but that didn’t stop her from preparing colossal meals, that would leave you to wonder how it was all prepared by an untrained home cook. She was definitely a natural! She loved her vegetable garden that I would weed along side her. Even though I had little interest in cooking at the time, I was always by her side, and I remember her constantly saying, “I’ll show you a little trick”! As an adult, I wish desperately that I had payed more attention back then, because my mother is no longer with me. So often I find myself wishing I could ask her for advice, but I did inherit her love and passion for the Kitchen, and everything that encompasses it, because when it came to the kitchen I grew up in, nothing but pure love came out of it.
My love for cooking came later in life, after meeting my husband. With a hobby as an avid vegetable gardener he finds his passion sowing, planting and tending to a variety of vegetables that would produce enough food for a small village. With the first harvest, my culinary and kitchen passions exploded. I endlessly watched cooking shows, I subscribed to food magazines, and had recipe boxes all over the internet. I began to photograph my dishes, create recipes and so began my collection of invaluable kitchen gadgets. I discovered cast iron cookware, the importance of good kitchen knives and began attending food expos; I was becoming…a Foodie!
It wasn’t long before I realized that it was time for me to follow my passion. My passion that encapsulates my love of fine dining, kitchen gadgetry, and cooking. I too, am an untrained home cook now, but I have the heart of a chef, the devotion and love of my mother in my soul, and the memories from my Nonna that now, combined in me, helped to create “The Kitchen Widget”, for the lover of all things kitchen.