Hello!

Who I am

I’m John Fiore, the amateur-chef behind this culinary misadventure. Growing up in a warm and bustling Italian household, I fell in love with cooking an early age. From making pasta from scratch to simmering tomato sauce, those moments in the kitchen sparked my lifelong passion for food.

My culinary journey took an exciting turn when I began working and moved to New York City. My income level meant that I could only afford a shoebox-sized apartment, and also that eating at restaurants 7 days a week was impossible. The necessity of home-cooked meals gave birth to inventive recipes made entirely from scratch, and I’ve got nothing better to do with my life than share these creations with you.

Both through traveling the world and navigating the many ethnicities that call NYC home, my taste buds have been on a global expedition. I fell in love with flavors from all corners of the world and became obsessed with recreating those dishes from the ground up in my own little kitchen. From grinding my own spices for spicy Thai curries to crafting delicate pastry dough for French croissants, I’ve toyed with recipes from around the globe, always with an emphasis on starting from scratch. Some would say the painstaking process of making bread, sauces, and other staples from scratch is insane and a sign of mental illness, and those people are correct. Others like myself view the corner of science and art where the act of cooking lives as an intriguing hobby. This blog is for those who share similar views.

What You’ll Find Here

This blog is a window into my small world of culinary exploration, with an emphasis on starting from scratch and making due with limited equipment and resources. Here, you’ll discover:

• Authentic Italian recipes, where we make our pasta, sauces, and even cheeses from scratch.

• Creative solutions for cooking in small spaces, all while using fresh, homemade ingredients.

• Exquisite dishes inspired by my travels to far-flung destinations, crafted with a commitment to creating each component from the ground up.

• Personal stories and anecdotes that add flavor to every recipe and showcase the joys of making it all from scratch.

Thanks for visiting!