About Me
So, the cat's out of the bag on the AR Recipe Buzz: I'm one of the AllRecipes "techie" guys. I do deployment engineering. I'm 39, from Seattle, and have a 14-year old son who is in a punk band. I've been working in the software/tech sector for about fifteen years. I live on an island, I ride my bike (onto a ferry boat) to work every day. I love cooking almost as much as I do eating. I'm getting married in August to my sweetie, Lindsay.
My favorite things to cook
Thanksgiving dinner, semi-traditional. I like getting creative and foodie with it. Like prosciutto- and herb-crusted roast turkey, port wine cranberry reduction, and butternut squash gratin. Mmmm. Oh! Oh! Oh! I got my butternut squash gratin recipe published on Allrecipes! Check it out: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Merritts-Butternut-Squash-Gratin/Detail.aspx The last two Thanksgivings, the hosts have deep fried, so I'm starting to go through withdrawal on my prosciutto bird...
My favorite family cooking traditions
Let's see, my mom used to make sh*t on a shingle, milktoast (milquetoast?), and mac n' cheese. Oh wait, these are supposed to be favorites? Uhhhhh... Fondue! To her credit, she also made a flank steak that I really liked.
My cooking triumphs
Thanksgiving!
My cooking tragedies
One time after spending an hour or two peeling and cubing ruby yams (for port wine candied yams) and butternut squash (for butternut squash gratin), I mixed them up and added garlic, rosemary, thyme to the yams while browning them. Thankfully I discovered my mistake before wasting $15 worth of white cheddar and gruyere.
Also, once I roasted $20 worth of chantrelles and criminis (light drizzle of olive oil, fresh herbs and coarse salt/pepper) for a side dish to bring to a friend's house, and dropped the whole sheet onto my fir-needle covered driveway. I passed it off as rosemary. :-o
Also, never use purple potatoes for gnocchi. They look like death.
