back story…

I found my passion for food at a young age, I remember every once and a while my Mom would get a break from cooking dinner and we would order pizza or Chinese on Friday night and then go out after church Sunday afternoon. Don’t get me wrong, Mom was a great cook and rotated the weekly menu to keep things interesting. By the time I was 9 years old from within 3 houses away and I could guess what we were having for dinner by sniffing the scents wafting in the air from our house with pretty good accuracy, I always got stumped between Stuffed Peppers and Goulash but if it was Chicken and spanish rice or pot roast, Forget about it. I would help my Mom out in the kitchen, I started out small, like making the powdered cheese sauce on the stove slowly adding milk and constantly stirring so not to scorch; “A Foodie is Born”. Flash forward 35 years and there I am preparing the holiday meal at my Parents house.

My Dad was more of a scrambled eggs and toast guy If he was left in charge of the kitchen duties God forbid. He wasn’t afraid to take us out and would pick a place that was quality but wouldn’t break the bank. He was a traveling engineer for Ford Motor Co. so he knew his way around almost anywhere we went around the Detroit area and the Midwest. Steak houses Places that are all but a memory now like Victoria Station and Meriweathers stand out. Victoria Station because the building was made out of repurposed railway cars, very cool the food was also fantastic! Meriweathers is still around but moved to Birmingham. It is a Chuck Muer Brand, very popular in the “D” had unbelievable Prime Rib, Lobster and Shrimp Cocktail not to mention the teacup bread with cinnamon butter so good. There are a lot of great Greek diners in the area, at the diners Dad would manage to find a pot roast or Turkey Dinner, but Mom and I would go for the Lamb Shank or a fish platter with the lemon rice soup and even the Liver and onions OMG it seems like yesterday. The fact that I don’t weigh 300 lbs. today is a complete miracle!! “All things in moderation,” right?

From 7th grade to high school graduation, I grew up in Bay City about an hour and a half north of the Detroit area. Homework was never a strong suit of mine, but I did learn drafting skills both mechanical and architectural (thank you Mr. Wackerly, Sagady and Philips) which before the age of the desktop Computer was a pretty cool field of work and a launching pad for engineering. My Father at this point was the Electrical Engineering Manager at a large automated tooling company back in the Detroit area. That summer after graduation we sold the house in Bay City and my mother and I moved down to catch up with my dad and brother who came down a year earlier. I got a summer job as a valet with my brother at a 4 star French restaurant. The Golden Mushroom in Southfield. It was a cool job the main clientele where Detroit’s local TV news personalities and well to do. The food was out of this world, the cooking staff would hook us up with lunch when they could. The flavors and smells that came from that place were amazing. I only worked there for 3 months but the impact it had on my appreciation for good cooking lasted a lifetime. My dad had an opening at his place for draftsman/detailer I thought, “I’ll give it a try, Get to work in an office rather than sitting in the valet booth cooking in the Summer sun.” The things you think about when you’re 18 Oy vey. This job change turned out to be a 35 year and counting career. The path I was put on made it possible for me to travel the country and meet some of the best people I’ve ever known.

With friendship comes hanging out and eating; with travel comes sampling local favorites and highly recommended holes in the wall. Working on the road finding a hotel or apartment that had a kitchenette or full blown appliances like at the old school Residence Inn that was a treat. Even after working 12 hours a day in a hot or freezing auto plant you still have to eat. Once you get past 22 years of age you hopefully have grown out of the, fast food for every meal. Don’t get me wrong I could write a book on great fast food restaurants. Anyway FOCUS!! this is the time in my life where I grew into cooking, not every meal was a homerun but I learned to try different things, get more comfortable, trying different Pastas, different Proteins, different veg. homemade sauces making great combinations, remembering great meals of the past, tweaking and falling in love with them.

I can honestly say that my faith and my cooking got me through some of the most stressful and troubling times. Whether in your work life or personal, when something is totally out of your control try this, do something that you can manage and control. Draw up a menu for the night, get your ingredients listed, fresh and otherwise head out to the grocery store or market and roll through the Produce section get the green onions, and portobellos, garlic, Habaneros, parsley, aisle 3, olive oil, gnocchi, over to dairy, get your heavy cream, now for the Butcher or freezer section shrimp or chicken breast. My Good people with the availability of Rotisserie chickens for 5 dollars some places even offer deboned rotisserie chicken in 1 pound or close to sizes, grab 1 or 2 of those and save yourself a lot of time. Grab a wine to go with and get back home to your Kitchen turn on some tunes and make magic happen.

My goal with this site other than selling chili is to share what I’ve learned, and take the fear out of cooking. before you know it when you hear there’s going to be a dinner at a friends or a party coming up, rather than thinking “I hope they’re going to have good food,” you call up and say “what can I make?” so have a look at my blog posts you can find me trying new recipes, originals some from the cooking shows, YouTube and yes Magazines. I’ll also keep you posted on my upcoming cookbook. You may be surprised to find that not every recipe will include Savvy Guy products I’ll do that when it makes sense.