The Joy of Hospitality 

Cooking For Amici is my way of inviting you to dinner and allowing me to share with you what I love to do most. My recipes and stories are an accumulation of who I am as a person and representative of where I'm from, and how I spend my days surrounded by my friends in New York. Hospitality through food and drink holds a special place in my life, and in my opinion, sharing a meal over drinks has always been one of life's highlighting features. Sometimes I think to myself that there is nothing I truly enjoy more than having the opportunity to provide the service of hospitality to a group of people, because hosting, serving, and initiating communal gathering around food and beverage are the pillars that make or break an experience that's not just worth rememberingーbut reminiscing. 

I moved to New York City from Oregon in 2020 for music school. I've never been someone to sit still (I get that from my dad) so having a city at my disposal that lended itself to my curiosities and ventures was all I could ask for. When it seemed that I had nothing to do and no objective in my day or week, at least I could go for a walk and not feel so alone anymore because I was surrounded by 13 million people. Within those millions of individuals I was fortunate enough to grow a chosen family here in New York that I spend my days surrounded by, and luckily my friends have grown to understand my intense obsession with cooking and hospitality in a personal and professional sense, mostly because they’re oftentimes at the receiving end of many of my projects. I plan, plot, and scheme dinners and parties far in advance because they add a pep in my step and give me an creative outlet to provide a service that I see grows a community as a reaction to my hosting. 

“What are your hobbies in your free time?” 

How do I look someone in the face and tell them that like having my friends over for dinner and making sure they leave my apartment stuffed and probably buzzed, and while we're at it… take some leftovers. 

This response is normally met with “Oh so you like to cook… that nice”

And then I need to figure out how to explain that I don't “like” to cook, because when I do get to cook for people, it's the highlight of my week. I get so caught up in cooking and hosting that sometimes I forget to join in the eating and drinking with my friends. A couple years ago, when the time came for me to pull out my own homemade cake at the end of my birthday dinner, I was coincidently hungry and thirsty, yet contrastingly still incredibly full because all night I was caught up doing what I found most fulfilling. And I don't lament that. Ok well, maybe I was a little pressed because I forgot to drink my own birthday bottle of wineーbut I've learned now to allocate my time better.

 I've been working in the food industry since I was 16, I liked it then, and like it now although for different reasons. I currently work in an Italian restaurant in Manhattan as an assistant bar manager and server, and really enjoy what I do. But my views on working now have definitely changed since I was a teenager working in an avocado themed food cart in the suburbs of Portland. But how am I different at home than I am at work? Besides the obvious setting change, I think the root of the service is different. At work I'm providing services in someone else's hospitality dream rather than my own. That doesn't mean I don't add my own touch of personality to my job, but I'm still a representative of someone else's brand, and I'm happy to do so. But when I get to act as my own independent entity and brand while providing hospitality, that's when I gain the satisfaction that no other work or professional venture has ever offered me before.

An idyllic day in my life would end with having my friends over for dinner in my small Brooklyn apartment, yet the limitations of the amount of people I can fit on my couch are too restrictive compared to the reach I want to share with. So welcome to my home and take a (metaphorical) seat, I hope you’re hungry.