Why “That’s a Good Meatball”
I feel like before we get started you need to know…
Adam Sandler said it first in “The Wedding Singer”
I never meant to become a good home cook, it just happened.
As far back as I can remember I was always doing arts and crafts. My dad still has a sunflower I painted on a scrap piece of wood, when I was in 3rd grade, hanging in his garage; it’s actually pretty good too. After that, I remember turning our basement laundry room into my art studio. My mom always supported my craft, buying me an easel and all the canvas and paints I wanted. I would proudly display them in my basement art gallery for family.
I then got into sports as I grew older, but I was always incorporating some type of art into that as well. I was a cheerleader, which made my new passion creating locker signs and banners for my school. Even as a softball player, I was curled up on the back of the bus doodling ideas of artwork for my softball helmet.
When I went to college I was pressured, probably by myself, to find a lucrative career. I found myself declaring a major in Political Science and Sociology with an emphasis in Public Opinion, needless to say, that was unfulfilling. However I found myself enjoying my electives, like photography and drawing, more than my major.
Next thing I know, I’m in my Senior year of college, working as a bartender at a local bar, and renting my first apartment by myself. I found myself in an area known for good food and drinks, in addition to having a local farmers market, and even a locally owned coffee shop. I found food, and I mean REAL FOOD, for the first time in my early twenties. I didn’t know it then, but food would become my art and my new passion.
I grew up in a great home where I had supportive and loving parents, but the one thing I didn’t have was REAL FOOD, which wasn’t my parents fault. Honestly, most 90’s kids grew up on Bagel Bites, Toaster Strudels, Wonder Bread, and Chef Boyardee. Most parents weren’t boiling and baking bagels, creating pastries, and baking bread from scratch, this just wasn’t that generation.
I remember tasting my first pastry, made from scratch, from the local coffee shop near my apartment. I also remember eating my first baba ganouj and homemade falafel at the local Lebanese diner; that was when I knew this is how I wanted to eat forever. My first steps, to eating like this forever was, I bought a food processor, hand mixer, and an expensive knife (at least the knife was expensive for a 22yr old). I had no idea what I was doing, all I knew is I was going to have fun doing it.
What was the first meal I was going to make? Of course, Spaghetti and Meatballs.
Fast forward 15 years and cooking is still my art. I have expanded my collection from a food processor, hand mixer, and expensive knife to a large kitchen stocked with everything anyone would need for a test kitchen. I have perfected some skills, others I’m still working on, but the best part is I’m having fun cooking, drinking whiskey, and blaring my music.
“That’s a Good Meatball,” is my place to help others learn in the kitchen and encourage you all to get out to enjoy the local food in your area. Who knows maybe you’ll find a passion in food too!
There are also a few people that I would like to shout out who helped make this possible. To my husband and son, who eat and critique my food daily, give me pointers, and let me know when something sucks ;) My BFF Deidre who helped edit and take all my photos. My sister who answered my phone calls and let me read this blog to her…over and over again. And my brother who taught my niece to say “that’s a good meatball” when she eats something delicious!