![](https://homemadeinastoria.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/newport-creamery-745x1024.jpg)
Sipping on a pistachio milkshake in Newport, Rhode Island … one of my mandatory favorite things to do when I visit home, second to ordering clam chowder.
Here’s my Story
As a comfort food home cook 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 as a home cook 8 years old](https://homemadeinastoria.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/DSC_2401_sm-300x259.jpg)
Me making cranberry bread at home in Richmond, Rhode Island. Circa 1985.
The Early Years
So … I’ll start by explaining that I was adopted, then found my biological family in my early 20s. I had no idea that cooking was literally in my blood, and didn’t find that out until I did extensive genealogy research more recently. It was such a pleasant surprise!
My desire for food started with lots of holiday baking as a child in Richmond, Rhode Island. Naturally, I 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. I was known for making some really awesome chocolate chip cookies. My friends endured 9 years of my tedious trial-and-error gourmet meals.
Moving to Astoria
Upon arriving in Astoria in 2004, I parted ways with trying to make gourmet food and became more interested in “American” comfort food. Also, I was motivated by 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. Watching TV, I learned about Puerto Rican cuisine from watching chef Daisy Martinez and Italian cuisine from chef Lydia Bastianich on PBS. On YouTube, I learned from watching America’s Test Kitchen and various home cooks. And meticulously reading Cooks Illustrated magazine on my commute to work was an everyday ritual.
Nowadays, my experience as a home cook is highly influenced from Puerto Rican, Mexican, and Jamaican cuisines, while exploring Neo Soul food concepts. Around 2007, I indulged in pasta making for a complete summer but don’t make it too often because I really needed to cut back on eating carbs. And speaking of health … I try to only eat meat once a day, or sometimes not at all. so I also offer vegetarian and vegan recipes and ideas.
Currently I’m a volunteer recipe tester for America’s Test Kitchen and learning primarily through their online cooking school.
My Culinary Timeline
Sometimes, pictures speak louder than words. Scroll below to see a visual time lime of my culinary story.
2013
![](https://homemadeinastoria.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/IMG958421_ret.jpg)
Volunteering to make sandwiches at Congregation Beth Elohim in Brooklyn, circa 2013.
2002
![](https://homemadeinastoria.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/cookingwithDave_3.jpg)
Cooking with my birth father. 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.
1999
1997
![me as a home cook in 1997](https://homemadeinastoria.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/DSC_2690_ret.jpg)
Home from college and cooking for my family in the summer of 1997.
1985
![](https://homemadeinastoria.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/DSC_2402_sm-300x300.jpg)
My parents exposing me to “real” food during a trip to San Francisco’s Chinatown, circa 1986.
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This was my mom showing me REAL Chinese food for the first time.
![](https://homemadeinastoria.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/PXL_20210820_152114476_2.jpg)
Me as a home cook with some holiday baking in Davis, California.
1984
![](https://homemadeinastoria.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/DSC_2692_ret.jpg)
My dad and I getting ready for the annual sunflower growing contest at the Washington County Fair in Richmond, Rhode Island, circa 1984.
![](https://homemadeinastoria.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/DSC_2679_3.jpg)
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
1963
![](https://homemadeinastoria.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Amos_theStandard.jpg)
My biological grandfather, Amos Robinson featured in the local paper in North Kingstown, Rhode Island in 1963.
1959
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My mom’s 1959 Fannie Farmer cookbook from my childhood kitchen provides endless fond memories and culinary inspiration.
1917
![](https://homemadeinastoria.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/thorndikeHotel_Antonio.jpg)
My biological great grandfather, Antonio Salvatore, was a cook at Thorndike Hotel in Boston, Massachusetts shortly after immigrating from Patti, Sicily. Circa 1917.
1865
![](https://homemadeinastoria.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/rosannaWatson.jpg)
My 4th great grandmother, Rosanna (Brinley) Watson – the daughter of a freed slave – was a cook in Newport, Rhode Island in 1865.
1831
![](https://homemadeinastoria.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Prince-Robinson-inventory.jpg)
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.