Welcome to my Kitchen!

Food has always been an important part of my life. For me, cooking is about much more than following a recipe. It is about family, memory, culture, experimentation, and, of course, the simple pleasure of preparing something delicious to eat and share.

With Italian and Armenian roots and many years spent living in Iran, I grew up surrounded by a wonderful mixture of culinary traditions. Persian, Armenian, and Italian foods were all part of my experience, along with dishes and flavors from many other cuisines. That exposure gave me an appreciation for the enormous variety of ways that simple ingredients can be combined and transformed. Much of my interest in cooking, however, began at home.

Inspired by My Mother’s Cooking

My mother was a very talented cook. Growing up, I had the pleasure of eating the meals she prepared for our family and friends, and food was an important part of gatherings in our home.

She didn’t limit herself to one cuisine. Her cooking reflected the different cultures and influences around us, and she had a natural ability to create flavorful meals. Watching her cook—and, perhaps even more importantly, eating what she created—gave me an early appreciation for good home cooking.

Some of the recipes I make today come from dishes I remember her preparing. I don’t always have her exact recipes or measurements, so sometimes I recreate them from memory and develop my own version along the way. My Orange Chicken, for example, was inspired by a dish my mother used to make. I remember the character and flavors of her dish, but because I don’t have her precise recipe, the version I make today has evolved into my own.

Other recipes have remained closer to family traditions passed down over the years. That mixture of memory, tradition, and personal interpretation is an important part of the food I share here.

A Kitchen Shaped by Different Cultures

Living among different cultures has had a lasting influence on the way I cook. Persian cuisine in particular became a familiar part of my life during the many years I lived in Iran. Its remarkable use of herbs, rice, fruits, nuts, spices, and slow-cooked ingredients gave me an appreciation for combinations of flavors that can be both subtle and complex.

My Armenian and Italian roots bring other traditions and flavors to the table. And over the years, my interest in food has taken me well beyond those three cuisines. As a result, I don’t think of my kitchen as belonging exclusively to any single culinary tradition.

You will find Persian and Armenian dishes alongside pasta, breads, vegetable dishes, desserts, omelets, and recipes that don’t necessarily belong to a particular cuisine at all. Some are traditional, some are adaptations, and others simply began with an idea and a little experimentation in the kitchen. That variety is intentional. It reflects the way I actually cook and eat.

Tradition with Room for Experimentation

I have great respect for traditional recipes, particularly when a dish has a history and cultural identity of its own. At the same time, cooking has always involved adaptation. Families pass recipes from one generation to another, ingredients change, people move to different places, and cooks inevitably develop their own preferences.

I enjoy that process.

Sometimes I begin with a familiar dish and make small changes. Other times, I look at the ingredients I have available and wonder what might happen if I combine them in a different way. Not every experiment becomes a recipe worth repeating, of course, but that is part of the fun of cooking. The successful ones eventually become part of my own repertoire.

My baked basil omelet is a good example. It came about when a gas-line problem temporarily left me without a working stovetop but with an electric oven. I had eggs, cheese, fresh basil, and a few other ingredients, so I experimented. What began as a practical solution became a recipe I wanted to make again. That is one of the things I love most about cooking: a good recipe can begin almost anywhere.

Simple Food Can Still Be Wonderful

Although I enjoy experimenting, I don’t believe delicious food needs to be complicated. Many of my favorite recipes use only a handful of ingredients. What matters is how those ingredients work together and how they are prepared. A loaf of artisan bread can begin with little more than flour, water, yeast, and salt. Fresh orange peel that might otherwise be discarded can become candied orange peel. Eggs, basil, cheese, and a few pantry ingredients can become a satisfying meal in minutes.

Those transformations are part of what makes cooking so rewarding. You don’t necessarily need professional equipment, elaborate techniques, or an enormous collection of ingredients to prepare good food. Sometimes patience matters more. Sometimes it is knowing when to stop cooking something. And sometimes it is simply discovering that two ingredients you had never thought of putting together work beautifully.

Recipes from My Kitchen to Yours

The recipes on this site reflect what I actually enjoy cooking. Some are family recipes and dishes connected to the cultures that have been part of my life. Others are my interpretations of foods I remember. And many are recipes I have developed through experimentation. When a recipe is traditional, I want to respect its origins. When it is my own adaptation or creation, I want to be equally clear about that.

Most importantly, I want the recipes to be approachable. Cooking should be enjoyable rather than intimidating. I try to explain what I do and why, while leaving room for you to adjust a recipe to your own taste. After all, that is how many recipes become family favorites in the first place.

Garlic can be increased because you love garlic. A particular cheese can sometimes be replaced with one you already have. A recipe I enjoy warm may turn out to be equally good cold. Cooking becomes much more interesting when you develop enough confidence to make those decisions for yourself.

Welcome to My Kitchen

This site is ultimately a collection of food, memories, discoveries, and experiments from my own kitchen. It allows me to preserve recipes that have been part of my life while continuing to create new ones. Some connect me with family and places I have known; others simply began because I was hungry and wondered what I could make with what I had.

I hope that sharing them encourages you not only to try my recipes but also to experiment in your own kitchen. Use them as written, adapt them to your taste, and perhaps make some of them part of your own collection of favorite dishes.

Welcome to my kitchen. I hope you find something delicious to make.