About

The chicken or the egg?

We can all make toast and pb&j. The first real dish I learned to cook was scrambled eggs. I was about seven years old and I had seen it done a thousand times: crack the eggs into a bowl, maybe splash in some milk, scramble. Pour into a hot pan, add all the cheese your heart desires, stir.

It’s not hard, but success in scrambled eggs gives a young cook confidence. If she can cook eggs, maybe she can bake a loaf of bread, and if the bread turns out, maybe she’ll prove she’s not a chicken by roasting one.

I did roast a chicken, and I tried a lot of other things, too. Slowly I developed an appetite for recipes. And when I felt the inclination to share my creations, I started a little recipe blog.

So to answer the age old question, as only a cook could: the egg came first.

I’m Kelly, and I love to be in the kitchen.

I’m a home cook and amateur recipe developer, cooking in my apartment in the Logan Square neighborhood of Chicago. When I’m not in the kitchen, I’m recovering from my career in advertising, earning a living as a copywriter and strategist for a healthcare startup while working on my masters in psychology, volunteering in dog rescue, and serving up self-awareness as a Myers-Briggs practitioner.

Besides cooking and eating, I love tea, the so-bad-it’s-good movie genre, Europe, singing, the MBTI, and arguing with either a really good or a really bad opponent. I hate bananas and olives. They will never appear on this blog.

My style of cooking is influenced by a few things. The first motivating factor is that I love to eat great food, so I like to learn to make it for myself (my Food People page is an ever-expanding roster of foodie “mentors”). Health is another factor—both in the waistline sense and in the more nebulous ingredients sense—so I use unprocessed, natural, whole foods whenever I can. That said, I’ll never give up brown sugar or sweetened condensed milk. Don’t go there.

windowsill tea

42 thoughts on “About”

  1. Kel Kel-
    You blow me away!! This is doing to be a “go-to” place
    for me to find new tasty treats!!! Jobs well done! Great copy, great photos, great recipes!!! “Who is in the Kitchen with kelly?” “No one!!” She doesn’t need any help~~~
    Peggy

    Reply

  2. OMG, Kelly you are a ***** star chef! I am dying to start using your ideas. You are up there with the best and should be opening your own foodery.
    You go girl! You are JUST like your Mom. xo, GBM

    Reply

  3. Thanks Peg!! I have a list of about 20 decadent dessert recipes that will make their way here over the next few months, so get ready!

    And Gretchen, thank you!! Maybe someday I’ll be ready to strike out on my own in the food career world, we’ll see… :)

    Reply

  4. Oh, Kell! So proud of my little kitchen pal! Love the format…..this looks and feels like a very “well seasoned” cooking blog! I’ll be back!

    Reply

  6. p.s. send your address, I’ve got some fresh Texas bay leaves for you. I too am an acolyte of this wonderful seasoning…soups, grains, anything in liquid pretty much…it ain’t done until you got the bay leaves bubblin’.

    Reply

  8. Kelly, this rocks my socks. I am for sure telling my dad about his, he is also an aspiring chef, and could DEFINITELY use some recipes that are actually good, like yours! Love everything about this. Brava!

    Reply

  17. Kelly, just found this little gem of a blog! i love it and will subscribe to vicariously cook more often through you. You make our name look good :)

    Reply

  18. Hi there! I’m Sue, and I’m from SlimKicker, a fitness/diet app and website. I saw your blog yesterday and it captured my interest!

    I was wondering if we can do a giveaway for your blog readers?

    Our website basically turns people’s fitness/diet goals into a level up game with challenges such as quitting soda for a week. We’re looking for new challenge ideas, so was thinking of holding a contest where your readers leave a comment on a health challenge idea + sign up on our site

    We’ll pick our favorite challenge idea, use it on our site, and give the winner either a free digital health scale, slow cooker, or digital heart monitor. We’ve done many giveaways for bloggers in the past – you can google ‘SlimKicker giveaway’ to see. I also encourage you to sign up for our site to see what we’re about too :)

    Let me know if you’re interested! You can email me back at sue.zheng (at) slimkicker (dot) com.

    Best,
    Sue

    Reply

  20. Hello! I’ve nominated you for the ‘Versatile Blogger Award’ …I think you have more than earned it! To accept it, all you need to do is visit this post on my blog http://wp.me/p3EeAS-cd and follow the rules, which are easy enough. If you’re not into awards, that’s fine too! Congrats!

    Reply

  21. You hate bananas and olives? Noooooooo! I thought we could be friends but I was sadly mistaken (just kidding. You’re still absolutely positively awesome. I do have lots of banana recipes on my blog though, so I hope that doesn’t put you off!). This is my first visit to your blog but I’m already loving your fresh approach to writing and cooking. Gorgeous recipes. Following you from now on! xx

    Reply

      1. Oh no, nothing!! (Except maybe New York I guess..?) I just love London and when it’s been covered in glitter and sparkles it’s even more wonderful 🎅

  28. Hi Kelly! I own a company in Chicago and we’re hiring … you came to mind right away. We met at PAWS back in January (played with Snavely/Mo for a while) and your energy and effervescence was unforgettable. I just wanted to see if you’d be willing to chat about the role!

    Reply

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