Spork and Knife

A while back I was asked to answer a questionnaire for the website familyoven.com. 

Since people are always asking why I decided to blog and where I get my interest in food I thought I would share some of my answers below.  Enjoy!  

Where did your blog name come from and why did you start blogging?

I’ve always had a passion and curiosity about food and everything surrounding it.  I love cooking, dining, specialty grocery stores and I grew up with this love of quality food.  After graduating from college I moved to

Where do you live and what is your family’s origin?

I currently live in

My mother’s side of the family is Italian and my father’s side is Hungarian, so I have an interesting mix of culinary inspiration. 

Where do you get your culinary inspiration from?

This is so cliché, but my mother and the rest of the Vanonni family.  From them I learned that it’s all about the love of the food and respect for your ingredients.  I remember watching my mother spend hours rolling out the dough for fresh pasta and then devote the same amount of time to her sauce…after a full day of working.  She would also search the markets for fresh in-season ingredients to inspire that nights dinner.  Today, things seem to have shifted to fast and easy solutions taking out the real joy of cooking.  I fear so many people have grown up with the notion that food is merely fuel and have lost all sense of the culinary adventure. 

What’s your favorite thing about cooking?

Cooking is a sensory experience.  The smell of something cooking when you walk into a home, sipping on a glass of wine while listening to something simmer, the anticipation of a long awaited meal.  But in the end, cooking is all about bringing people together and that’s why I love it.  No matter your race, religion, gender or politics everyone loves food.  Moments with family and friends at the dining table are some that I will cherish forever.

Besides cooking what is something you like do on your spare time?

Wine tasting, exploring exotic cuisine, searching for that undiscovered product and travel to new places.  I recently started volunteering at the Washington Humane Society and it has been such a joy to shower the shelter animals with love and attention and help people find that missing link to their family.