ABOUT

My passion for food began with my big fat Greek Italian family, but not in the most expected way.  As a kid, I was the pickiest eater alive - surviving on mozzarella sticks, pasta, parmesan, and chicken nuggets - until finally, I was so sick of being high maintenance that I forced myself to eat everything.  And boy am I glad that I did.

Friends frequently ask whether I learned to cook from my grandmothers or my mom.  The truth is, my culinary journey was solo from the start.

My teachers were Giada and Ina, trial and error, and the internet.  My classrooms were a summer in Greece and a semester in Florence.  I became obsessed with bold flavors, high quality ingredients, and techniques both simple and complex.

My goal for this blog, above all, is to provide an alternative to the picture-perfect bloggers that have taken over the space.  I'll admit, I follow these bloggers for inspiration and am guilty of swooning over their content.  But where are the girls like me?

I don't own an SLR camera, and I have no clue how to work any photo-editing apps that aren't on my phone.  I am absolutely not a formally trained chef, nor do I follow any particular diet or health trend.  Sometimes I can create pretty plates, but most of the time, my food is gloriously messy and sloppily delicious with runny yolks and sauces (with crusty bread to sop it all up, of course).  I am far from being the owner of a perfect pantry, but I can sure as hell make an amazing meal with whatever's on hand.  When hosting a dinner party, I generally over-commit and force my guests to wait an extra hour before dinner is ready (don't worry, they don't mind the cheese and wine while they wait).

My favorite thing to do is cook for the people I love.  WAIT, it might be a tie between that and personally experiencing a life-changing food epiphany moment.  I experience these often - taking that first bite of something new and delicious, trying out a recipe for the first time and recognizing its brilliance, discovering a restaurant and chef that just has it all figured out.

The Porky Fig name pays homage to my Mediterranean descent and affinity for, you guessed it, pork.  I am also a huge advocate for the salty and sweet, not to mention spicy and cool, rich and delicate, and other opposites-attract food pairings.

With this blog, I plan to introduce you to my own recipes as well as great recipes by other amazing chefs.  I want to especially focus on planning cohesive and delicious breakfast, brunch, lunch, and dinner party menus because accessible versions of these don't exist.  I plan on writing restaurant reviews and food guides to my favorite cities, since my friends are constantly asking me for them anyway.  I plan on using the blog to be more consistent in my creativity and hope that it helps me grow as a chef.

I hope you all will join me on my new, not-so-solo culinary journey.