tbh I never set out to write a cookbook.

Honestly, when I first started cooking, I had no idea what I was doing. I was learning as I went, trying things, messing things up, and occasionally making something good enough that I thought, Okay... I might actually be onto something here.

Somewhere along the way, I started writing my recipes down. At first, it was simply so I wouldn't forget what I had done the last time I made something. Because apparently, “a little of this and some of that” is not a very helpful recipe when you're trying to recreate dinner six months later.

Then people started asking me for my recipes.

So I kept writing them down.

What started as a way to remember my own recipes slowly became something much bigger. I realized that recipes aren't just instructions for making food. They're the meals you make for the people you love, the dishes you bring to holidays, the dinners you throw together on a Tuesday night, and the recipes you come back to because they just work.

That's why I decided to make a cookbook.

I wanted to create the kind of cookbook I wish I had when I was learning to cook—recipes that don't make you feel like you need a culinary degree to pull them off. Recipes that are approachable, flavorful, and actually worth making.

And if you're already a great cook, I hope you'll find a few new favorites in here too.

You don't have to know exactly what you're doing when you start. I certainly didn't. You just have to be willing to try, taste, laugh when something goes wrong, and try again.

So here's to cooking without overthinking it, making a little mess along the way, and finding recipes that become your own family's favorites.

I'm glad you're here. Now let's get cooking.