About Us

When we first got married, there was some serious food-tension.

My parents (Renee's) are both from New York and have an appreciation for all things ethnic. Mom says my brother should have slanted eyes becuase all she ate when she was pregnant with him was Chinese carry out. Growing up with them meant I had hundreds of opportunities to try new foods and appreciate things that were exotic.

Now that I'm an adult, the weirder my food is, the more I like it.

Jake is from the midwest, so he has an appreciation for all things hearty. Seriously, this boy is the all-American poster child. He tells me stories of midwest corn so good, that the flavor blooms in your mouth and you think you've gone to heaven.

I know not of such corn. Someday I will have to experience this.

So finding food that we both like was really a challenge at first. It was kind of like culture-shock. One of our first fights was when I made brownies for him. He always made his brownies with the high altitude directions and would bake it for the time alotted on the box.

Fully cooked brownies? I know not of this.

So one day, I told him to sit on the couch and watch football and let ME make him brownies the RIGHT way.

Several minutes later, the timer went off and I pulled the brownies out of the hot oven. He came over to inspect my work.

"These are RAW!"

"No they're not, they're gooey."

He held up the pan vertically. "Look, they're sliding out of the pan!"

I snatched the pan away. "Of course they're sliding out of the pan, you're holding it upside down!"

Things just escalated from there. I don't remember if we put them back in the oven, or if I put my foot down and ate the whole pan myself just to make a point. But I do remember thinking, "I can't believe we're fighting about brownies."

Of course we weren't really fighting about brownies. We were fighting becuase he thought I was doing it incorrectly, and I thought he was being close-minded to a new experience.

Culture Shock.

So we came up with a solution. We would cook together. That way, we could really create a meal that would be good for the both of us.

From that, we have spent more time together, learned how to communicate better and put on a few pounds. But isn't that what marriage is all about?