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As a home chef in Astoria, New York I traced my ancestry and discovered that I descend from a handful of cooks on both sides of my family dating as far back as 1831. Just a coincidence? I think not.
Me making cranberry bread at home in Richmond, Rhode Island. Circa 1985.
My desire for food started with lots of holiday baking as a child in Richmond, Rhode Island. I naturally gravitated to food jobs during college in Minneapolis, finding work as a dining hall prep cook, a cheesemonger in a gourmet deli, and a coffeeshop barista. My friends endured 9 years of my tedious trial-and-error gourmet meals.
Upon arriving in Astoria in 2004, I parted ways with the concept of gourmet food and became more interested in “American” comfort food. I also wondered how to cook with the wide variety of international ingredients that were new to me and so easily available in my local markets. More tedious trial-and-error kitchen adventures took place as I learned from a wide variety of sources including TV chefs such as Daisy Martinez and Lydia Bastianich, online videos from America’s Test Kitchen and various YouTube home cooks, and from constantly reading Cooks Illustrated magazine.
2002
Cooking with my birth father, Dave Robinson. As he recalls frequently digging for clams off the shores of Rhode Island, he’s showing me how he makes Rhode Island clam chowder during a visit to Minneapolis, circa 2002.
1997
Home from college and cooking for my family in the summer of 1997.
1986
My parents exposing me to “real” food during a trip to San Francisco’s Chinatown, circa 1986.
1984
My dad (Bob Costantino) and I getting ready for the annual sunflower growing contest at the Washington County Fair in Richmond, Rhode Island, circa 1984.
My first involvement in publishing a recipe was my mom getting me involved in her Girl Scout troops’ cookbook project, circa 1984. I still love chocolate-chip-anything to this day!
1978
My biological grandfather, Amos Robinson cooking in North Kingstown, Rhode Island. Circa 1978.
1963
My biological grandfather, Amos Robinson featured in the local paper in North Kingstown, Rhode Island in 1963.
1959
My mom’s 1959 Fannie Farmer cookbook from my childhood kitchen provides endless fond memories and culinary inspiration.
1917
My biological great grandfather, Antonio Salvatore, was a cook at Thorndike Hotel in Boston, Massachusetts shortly after immigrating from Patti, Sicily. Circa 1917.
1865
My 4th great grandmother, Rosanna (Brinley) Watson – the daughter of a freed slave – was a cook in Newport, Rhode Island in 1865.
1831
An inventory from the home of a free Black ancestor – my biological 4th great grandfather, Prince Robinson – revealing the contents of his kitchen in South Kingstown, Rhode Island in November of 1831.
