The Homemade Gourmet

Welcome to The Homemade Gourmet! I'm Chris, a 28-year old Red Sox fan living in NYC having just graduated from grad school. An athlete all my life, I try to run 10-12 miles a week, lift weights 2-3x a week and play soccer once or twice on the weekends. It's a schedule that I feel is important to maintain due to my hereditary condition of having high cholesterol. If I did not take my medication, my levels would shoot up to over 200 (the borderline level between good and risky), and even skyrocket past 250 without adequate exercise and a nutritious diet. Therefore, I've always tried to incorporate fresh and lean foods into all of my meals.

I like to eat as healthy as possible but understand that on the both the tight budget and schedules with which many of us in NYC are faced, I understand how the luxury of being able to do so is sometimes not always available. So with that in mind, I have always tried to keep my recipes simple in design yet complex in flavor. Nothing on this blog takes more than 10 minutes to prep or 15 minutes to cook. I've recently started this blog as a way to keep track of all of my recipes and provide easy access to them for friends and followers alike.

I have always been a visual learner. I remember having to read long, drawn out explanations of chemical lab procedures when I was in high school and thinking, "how in the world am I going to do this reaction if I can't even set up the apparatus?" I was always the kid in lab who waited for everyone to begin hunting for the equipment so I could watch the smarter kids in class set up their device before I copied their moves. After that, the hard parts were over and I was always one of the first ones to finish the experiments and leave for the day. Therefore, I will include photos of the intermediary steps on the recipe as well as of the finished products. Also, I will list a glossary (with photos!) of all of the vegetables that I incorporate in my recipes. The first time I read a recipe that contained "anise" I had no idea what it was or what it looked like, much less how to even properly pronounce it to ask for it in the store! But we will learn to love our anise (or fennel).

Please let me know if you have any questions about what I post and please leave any feedback below! I love learning about new recipes and about different ingredients, and also what people think of my work!