Meet Stubbie

Welcome to my blog!  My name is Dana and I love to cook!  Reading cookbooks, like one who reads a novel,  cover to cover, is something that I enjoy.  My husband thinks it’s silly, but he loves that I have something that I am passionate about.  In fact, he is responsible for my moniker, “The Stubbie Chef”.

My husband is 6’2″, my stepson is right at 6′, and I am 5’6″, o_O.  Mind you, when my husband and I married, my stepson stood at my shoulder.  A year and a half later it was me at his shoulder.  If you can believe it, I am actually one of the tall ones in my family.  In my husband’s family, I am among the land of giants.  Not really, ha-ha,  but I am one of the shorter ones.  Because of this, my husband began to call me “Stubbie”.  Then one day, he called me his “Stubbie chef”.   When I decided to start this blog, it only seemed natural to use the term of endearment.

My love of cooking, I believe, started with my grandmothers.  I come from a big family.  A big Italian family, actually.  Like any big family, I have noticed, there is a lot of food, a lot of eating, a lot of drinking, a lot of laughing and a lot of good times.  One thing I recall,  looking back, is all the women were in the kitchen, all the men were sitting around telling stories, watching a game, or playing music, and the kids were playing out in the yard.

It was during these family gatherings where the kids are tricked in to helping the women with menial tasks.  Tasks such as shucking corn.  They would set out brown paper grocery bags full of corn and say things like, “Who wants to play a game?  See these bags of corn?  Let’s see who can “peel” the most ears of corn.  When I count to three, you can start.  Ready?…1…2…3…GO!!!!”  We fell for it every time too!  They were brilliant.  Make it a game or competition and kids will come in droves.

As we grew up, we got wise, but we were given more grown-up tasks.  Helping peel hard-boiled eggs for deviled eggs.  Peeling potatoes and carrots.  Grating mozzarella or cheddar cheese.  Eventually, a few years more, slicing and chopping onions, celery, tomatoes, etc.

By this time, my grandmother had passed away.  I was 15 and just started to value the traditions of her kitchen.  Fortunately, I still had my Memom!  I lived with her on two occasions, and when I lived closer to her, I could be found at her house almost every weekend.  I am so grateful for those experiences.  It is because of her traditions in the kitchen why I have mine today.

I cook everyday.  It is very rare that a meal will come out of a box from the freezer to oven or microwave.  That is just my personal preference.  Have I done it?  Sure!  Do I turn my nose up at those who do?  Certainly not!  If I can’t make it entirely from scratch, I will prepare it semi-homemade.  Especially during the week nights.  On the weekends, however, I prepare a good, complete, home cooked meal.

I hope after reading this you decide to stick around.  I started this blog to share my love of food with others who are also passionate about cooking and recipes.  I am always looking for new recipes and would love it if you would share yours!