Welcome!
The Sunday Culinarian is a community of foodies who would spend all day cooking and eating if they could but because life usually gets in the way of what we really want to do (#adultingishard), settle for indulging in our culinary adventures whenever time allows – for me, that’s usually on Sundays when the hubby is watching football (#footballwidow) or whatever other sporting event happens to be on.
So, if there’s no place you’d rather be than whipping up an amazing meal or delicious treats for your friends and family but don’t always have as much time as you’d like to do so, then you’ve come to the right place. We’ll focus on recipes that are great for quick weeknight meals or Sunday Dinners that bring the family together around the dinner table and can then be easily turned into lunch for the week – or at least the next day if you have a bunch of hungry mouths around. Eating food prepared at home is so much healthier, tastier and cheaper than eating out every day and with electronic devices commanding more and more of our attention, preparing meals that will bring the family together around the table is more important than ever.
My life-long obsession passion for all things food related and connecting with like-minded people was the catalyst for creating this blog. Sharing, discussing, learning and reaping the rewards of amazing, healthy,
tasty recipes are at the core of The Sunday Culinarian. Since I have a day job, I don’t get to
spend as much time in the kitchen as I’d like. I’ve spent years researching, testing and tinkering with thousands of recipes and I want nothing more than to share what I’ve learned with other part-time foodies out there – and hopefully learn some new things, too.
When I say life-long passion for food, I’m not exaggerating. Cooking with my grandma are some of my earliest (and fondest) memories. She would pull a step-stool up to the counter and I would help her break eggs or stir the batter – I discovered at
a very young age that if you helped stir the batter you got first dibs at licking the bowl, and we all know that’s why we really bake! Seriously folks, let’s be real. My grandparents lived on a farm and raised chickens and cattle – along with a fabulous vegetable garden. My grandma cooked three huge meals a day and there was ALWAYS dessert – which probably contributed to my insanely ridiculous sweet-tooth (actually, I’m pretty sure I have sweet-teeth and not just one sweet-tooth!) She spent all day in the kitchen and, when I was there, I was right by her side. She taught me many culinary things over the years but the biggest lesson I learned was that when you made something from scratch you could put your love into it and when you shared that food with people you were sharing your love.
It wasn’t until after I’d graduated from college and entered corporate America that my relationship with food really went to the next level. I began eating out a lot for work – entertaining clients, business lunches, etc – and was eating take-out at home because I never had time to grocery shop, much less cook. I know that eating that way over the long-term is not realistic if I plan to lead a healthy life – and there are too many things I want to experience to actively contribute to shortening my left. So, I made a concerted effort to change my habits – no eating out twice a day, schedule meetings at the office or for coffee instead of for lunch, schedule my grocery shopping like it was a business appointment (just like I have to do with my workouts.) And, one of the most important things I did was to reclaim my weekends. Sundays are my days – they’re the days I plan for how I take care of me for the next week and a lot of that centers around the food I’m going to eat and the time I’ll have to prepare it. A little bit of preparation goes a very long way. Now this isn’t to say that we don’t order take-out or eat out – we absolutely do, but it’s the exception and not the rule. Through this transformation I rediscovered my love of cooking, continuously improve my culinary skills, expand my palate for flavors and various cuisine types and most importantly taken control of my health without compromising on the happiness that food brings to my life. Food is an adventure for me, not just fuel for the body but fuel for the soul – and I’m excited to share my stories with you.
Now, a little about me. I was born in Arkansas and then moved around growing up (Army brat) but always managed to spend my summers at my grandparents farm in southwest Missouri. I went to college back in Arkansas and then moved to Texas for graduate school. After that, my #furbaby, Luna, and I bounced around a little before finding ourselves in San Francisco, CA.
(A very different experience for someone who’d spent most of her life in the Midwest and South.) I had no intention to stay for long but then met my future husband and all of those plans went out the window. Seven years later I’m still here, married to the man of my dreams and couldn’t be happier. While there are definitely some minuses with living in San Francisco (and not in the Bay Area but actually in the city) – like the tiny 475 sq ft apartment we live in (we did tiny home living before it was a cool thing to do!) and the exorbitant cost of living, there are so many more pluses. The people here are fantastic! It’s a mixing bowl of people from all over the world with different opinions, beliefs and customs – you get to experience so much of the world without having to leave your own backyard! 
Then, of course, is the food. Not just the vast array of restaurants (way more than New York city!) that are packed into the city’s 49-square-miles but the proximity to California’s central valley which produces some of the best produce in the world. Not to mention the direct access to world-renown wines that are right outside our door. Just like an article in the Huffington Post said – “San Francisco is the best place to be in the universe” – and I couldn’t agree more.
During our busy weekdays, my little family and I love to spend time together at home, watching movies, binging on new Netflix series and enjoying yummy bites (dim sum and fried chicken everyday if my husband had his way) – the hubby is a wonderful cook as well and does a lot of heavy lifting during the week, I’m a lucky lady! On the weekends we explore the city, enjoy new restaurants, go hiking out in the wilds of Northern California, enjoy wine tasting with friends, travel as much as our jobs and bank accounts will allow and, of course, enjoy my #footballwidow Sundays in the kitchen.
Thank you for joining me on my weekend culinary adventures! Be sure to post comments, pin recipes and, of course, subscribe so you’ll never miss out on a new adventure!