Hello! My name is Ali Parker. I grew up in Cincinnati, OH and lived there all of my life until I went to college. I recently graduated from Pepperdine University studying Spanish and International Studies with a focus in Intercultural Communications. I currently work in digital advertising sales in Los Angeles.

I have two amazing parents and a great older sister.

I have written a blog before, but it was about my travels. I tried to do write on it twice, once when I was studying abroad for two months in Spain, and the other time was when I spent my sophomore year of college abroad in Italy. I was always into it at first, but then I tried to include every event or what we did each day/trip. Needless to say, I got burnt out, fast.

I’m excited about this blog because I’m not forced to document everything. I can share a story, a recipe, a picture, or a quote. I can write when I want, about what I want. I grew up watching cooking on T.V. and loved to help my mom in the kitchen when I could. Most of this is covered in my first blog post.

Having lived in Europe for a year, I had the opportunity to travel to many different countries. While I’ve only scratched the surface of places to travel to, there was one thing I clearly observed: anywhere you go, there is a different type of food. What they eat in London is different from Madrid, which is different from Barcelona, Athens, Istanbul, Dublin, and Jerusalem. I try to incorporate these experiences in the food I cook, whether it’s looking up recipe that is like it or simply trying to recreate the recipe. It’s amazing how you can take a simple, plain palate like chicken and cook it in so many different ways.

Then there’s dessert. Let’s just say that my friends call me “elf” and like to encourage me to move beyond the four food groups: “Candy, Candy Canes, Candy Corn, and Syrup.” While this is only them teasing me, there is some truth in it. I have recently had a strange addiction to Dots, which most people find to be disgusting. I do only eat the red and pink, of course. But dessert has always been the most exciting part of the meal for me. Being a picky eater, you never know what the main course is going to be, but I can always – well, almost always – count on dessert being edible. Baking is fun. Who doesn’t enjoy biting into a gooey chocolate chip cookie or licking the icing off of their fingers after a cupcake? In this blog, I hope to share with you the food that I make. All of the food that I make is from scratch, unless otherwise noted. I love creating and experimenting with food and want to share my love for cooking and baking with you.