Hey there,
Welcome to The Flavor Lab! This is my first time writing a blog, so bear with me. I wasn’t sure how to kick things off, so I figured I’d start with the questions I get asked most often.
Who are you?
My name is Alex, and I’m passionate about a lot of things, but food is the one that’s followed me since childhood. I started cooking very young with my grandmother, and as far as I can remember, my mom always had a little garden around the house. Now I grow a bunch of veggies, eight varieties of garlic, and have 18 blueberry bushes across eight varieties.
You’ll also see my two sous-chefs pop up occasionally. I highly recommend getting yourself at least one: they’re cheap labor and fun to work with (most of the time).
How did you get started?
In early 2020, I went on a quest to recreate the pizzas I’d eaten on a recent trip to Italy, specifically Neapolitan pizza. In the process, I may have annoyed a few people with all my pizza experiments. I made at least 25 versions, tweaking ingredients and technique until I finally landed on something satisfying. A number of people got interested in following along, and since emailing everyone individually wasn’t practical, the blog was born.
Why are you writing all this down?
A few reasons. First, I love talking about food and sharing what I know, so documenting my “experiments” here felt natural. Second, and more selfishly, it’s a great way to keep all my recipes in one central place.
Why should I read your blog?
If you love good food, you’ll feel right at home here. I share some of my best recipes and try to make them as easy as possible to follow. I also like taking other people’s recipes and putting my own spin on them, drawing on years of cooking experience.
How often do you update your blog?
I used to publish every Friday, but between work, kids, and hockey, it’s now more whenever I have the time. I’ve got a long list of recipes I still need to write down or experiment with, but time is the limiting factor.
So how credible are you, really? Have you ever worked in a kitchen?
I worked in a professional kitchen for a grand total of three weeks, covering for a childhood friend who was traveling in Germany. Oh, I hated it. It was clear from day one that I wasn’t cut out to be a chef. Cooking for money just isn’t for me.
That said, I still wanted to sharpen my skills, so I enrolled in an intensive cooking course held over several weekends with Chef Jean-Michel Riverin, who directed a kitchen academy and appeared on various TV shows. We stayed in touch afterward, bonding over a shared love of cars, but he later passed away in an accident.
I’ve since taken additional training in Thai and Indian cooking, two cuisines I really enjoy.
Got a good recipe? Want to share it?
Absolutely! I’m always up for trying something new, just fair warning: I’ll probably tamper with it.