About

Now that you’ve come this far – to the first page at bottle&flame and made it through the first post let me share a little bit about me (the author/blogger/host/chef/nerd/father/husband).

I will use every knife and every bowl and every skillet to make something as simple as a salad
I am the proud father of twins (fraternal)
I have no formal culinary education
I am a gadget fiend – kitchen gadgets, electronic gadgets, gadget gadgets…
I love my super awesome wife and love that she lets me use every dish in the kitchen and is willing to try almost anything I make (need to convince her that brussel sprouts are yummy)
Sharp knives are my friend (until I nearly cut my finger tip off – has happened more than once…)
Not a lover of mushrooms or olives or pickles – somebody needs to help me change that
Maker of a mean gin & tonic
Lover of farmers markets and artisan food purveyors (look at all those hipster things I jammed in to one phrase)
Collector of wine – mainly Walla Walla + Yakima Valley + some California so far (but working my way back up to ~200 bottles slowly)
King of the crockpot/slow cooker – my short ribs (in the immortal words of my friend James) “will slay your face”
I used to be extremely athletic (I swam competitively + played water polo in high school + college and dabbled in racing at the Half-Ironman distance and watched my body fall apart preparing for Ironman Arizona in 2006. So, some of the blog may cover my road back to health + racing)
Lover of butter and slab bacon for cooking (but slowly wondering if the bacon trend is on the decline – something we can ponder here)