Introductions

Hi, nice to meet you…

We live at the crossroads of the diverse neighborhoods of Kensington, Ditmas Park, Parkville and Midwood in Brooklyn, NY. We strive to know every grocery store within walking distance of our apartment and incorporate as many new ingredients into our traditional family recipes and cooking repertoire as possible.

We both stumbled upon cooking in early adolescence, beginning with following directions on the back of Hamburger Helper boxes.  We still cook for our families, but we’ve graduated to roasting meat, steaming vegetables and even making our own condiments once in a while (well, Raphe makes the condiments and Marni eats them – it’s a team effort).

We take a practical, neighborhood approach to cooking.  For better or for worse, organic produce at Whole Foods downtown takes a back seat to the tomatoes (or mangoes) sitting in a cardboard box at the local fruit stand.  That’s not to say we never hop on the train and buy food in other neighborhoods, but our first inclination is to shop around and look for deals in our neighborhood.  We buy inexpensive in-season produce.  If we don’t have or can’t find something a recipe calls for – we improvise.

Who we are…

Marni may often be found with flour smudges on her face

Raised in Minnesota with a Filipina mom and Midwestern dad, Marni grew up with such fusion dishes as Bratwurst Fried Rice and Creamy Ramen Egg-Drop Soup.  She now eats an obscene amount of yogurt, reads about biochemistry for fun and likes to write about herself in the third person.  She writes and rants about fact and fiction at Marnellicious.

Raphe is most content with a stein of microbrew in hand.

Any decent photos on this site can probably be attributed to Raphe.  This man’s culinary lineage includes a home ec. teacher grandma and mom with an unbeatable gravy recipe.  He won’t be writing much, but Raphe’s the real creative force in our kitchen.  He can craft beer with any meal and has no fear of the time and effort required to make his own amazing hot sauce.  He enjoys roasting large hunks of meat, making art and baseball.

If you see us wandering the neighborhood, you’ll know us by our height differential.  Marni is 5’0″, Raphe is 6’4″.  Do the math and you’ll see that’s a good 16 inches.

You may recognize this fellow

Snowball joined the team in the summer of 2010. We found him (or he found us) on a curbside in Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn, and has since become our most dedicated kitchen helper. He enjoys vigorous massages, exfoliation sessions and oil rubs.

Tell us about yourself!