Foreword

On this website, you’ll find not only recipes but also stories from a life spent in the restaurant business. It's my version of a cookbook if I work up the courage to write one.

You’ll discover what I often cook at home. A repertoire of meal ideas, and combinations that will serve you well when the “What should I cook today?” moment arrives. The food is what I like to eat: simple and unfussy.

The stories come from a life born into hospitality. My mother has owned a restaurant for as long as I can remember, and if it weren’t for Elena, my wife, I wouldn’t know how to behave outside of it—I’m still not entirely sure I do. Had my mother been a teacher, veterinary, or carpenter, I would likely be doing that instead.

I didn’t always like it. Anticipating people’s desires for a living wears you out—I’ve seen it firsthand: her deformed fingers, varicose veins, and swollen ankles the size of elephant trunks. “Frederico, can you put an extra pillow under my legs? I need to keep them elevated after work.” It was well past midnight, and I was somewhere between the ages of six and sixteen.

By a combination of luck, ambition, and a little inevitability, I learned to love it. I wouldn’t trade it for anything else—it’s what I know best.

- Frederico