About Us
Hi! I’m Renee! I grew up around food and I find that no matter what I have done in my life, I always gravitate towards the kitchen and food in general. I absolutely love to bake. Mostly cookies, but some cakes and pies end up in the mix too. I am a lover of chocolate and would definitely prefer to have dessert first. Go ahead and add more chocolate. The more chocolate the better. I don’t think there could ever be too much. Chocolate and wine. They are my vices.
I also love to cook and try cuisines from far away lands. Perhaps it is a way to satiate my never ending wanderlust. It is not always successful to fulfill my traveling desire but I do try to wander as much as I can. Which, as I get older, and have more home responsibilities, doesn’t happen as much as it used to. Seeking out exotic ingredients, cooking techniques and recipes from far off places has to suffice. It is not uncommon for Ari and I to travel great distances around NYC to seek out just the perfect ingredient or table setting to match the ethnicity of what we are having for dinner on any given Sunday.
Over the years, I have amassed quite a collection of cookbooks and love to read each and every one of them from cover to cover. I am in awe of the beautiful photographs and sincerely enjoy the stories surrounding the food itself, their authors and their reasons for bringing their recipes to life. I often prefer cookbooks to novels.
I am incredibly jealous that Ari was able to attend culinary school but incredibly proud of him too. Unfortunately, I was off on my career path at the time and it was a better option for our family to send him. I don’t regret not going myself, but Ari’s knife skills are far better than mine so I deflect to him for anything that really needs cutting. It just takes me too long but it does get the aggression out when I have to chop the vegetables! It’s also cool because he also has a lot of interesting gadgets that I like to play with. Except for the mandoline, which terrifies me and makes me close my hands into a fist to hide my fingers just thinking about it. I have asked for a guard, but one still has yet to appear.
I have a great love and appreciation of wine and once thought of becoming a wine professional. I took some wonderful classes through the Wine & Spirit Education Trust and earned a certificate in wine and spirits. This was some years ago and my love of wine knowledge has never ceased. I am still trying to learn as much as I can about viticulture and vinification. It is still something in the back of my mind that would be nice to become more of a professional. Ideally combining it with making delicious foods and hosting fabulous meals for terrific people. A dream for my retirement- a bed and breakfast in Napa. Or in France. Either one. I’d be happy.
I am usually the one writing the blog but Ari will sometimes write too. He’s much more of the chef, hands on type than the writing type. I am the one who chases him around asking exactly how much of this or that he has thrown into the pot. We both love to take photographs of the food and we are trying every day to improve our skills. This is often much to the chagrin of our family, who rolls their eyes and complains, because they do not like eating cold food. But we just need one more shot!
Hi! I’m Ari! I also grew up cooking with my own mother in my family’s kitchen. After a stressful day at school I would often go home and bake a cake. It was just something I loved to do and was a great release. Once I met Renee, one of the things we loved to do together was spend entire days in the kitchen just cooking something grand for a single dinner. We would spend the day before going through cookbooks, traveling to the lengths of the city and procuring just the right things. We even bought special dishes and decorated the table so each meal would be “authentic”.
I graduated from the French Culinary Institute in 2000 and spent several years in the kitchens of some of Manhattan’s hottest restaurants. But as my family grew and the hours became too brutal on everyone, I turned in my toque for a daytime desk job but never gave up my love for cooking. I sometimes work as a personal chef and get to do some catering for small parties on the side. Truth be told, I also do most of the big cooking at home. But it’s usually because Renee has her hands full with kids and the house. But whenever we have the chance, we are together in the kitchen.
I love to create dishes with what ever is on hand, often improvising the ingredients and I rarely follow a recipe exactly. This drives Renee nuts sometimes, but she is very good about following me around with a notebook. And I really have been trying to measure more often.
Recently we started growing some of our own vegetables and herbs in the backyard in raised beds that I made. It’s awesome to cook with really fresh ingredients that we grew ourselves. Its also nice to have a constant supply on hand.
This site celebrates our favorite recipes, cookbooks, reviews and products we love. It will also be a platform for anything food related, including some Kitchen Conundrums that we all face. Like that dreaded “What’s for Dinner?” or “There’s nothing to eat”. Hopefully, we will show you that yes, there is something to eat, and it’s easy and fun to make too.
Here at Kitchen Conundrum, we really want you to be a part of our little spot in the blogosphere so feel free to contact us at editors@kitchenconundrum.com. If you have content you would like to submit, suggestions or just want to say hi, please drop us a note.
You can also reach us individually at
HAPPY COOKING!
