What is East Village Kitchen?

The East Village Kitchen blog was established for one simple purpose: to log one New York City woman’s culinary adventures, one recipe at a time. At its establishment in November 2008,  the site’s author had high hopes that blogging about her favorite hobby would make her feel more connected to it as she continued with her busy life of working at a desk, living in the city that never sleeps, and maintaining an acceptable  level of neurosis. The blog served this purpose well and began to take on a life of its own, as the blogger discovered new loves for writing and photography, and most of all, desserts. Then, in the Summer of 2009, the blogger decided that she wanted to do it full-time. Now, the blog tracks one New York City woman’s culinary adventures – from the corporate world to culinary school, to the bakeries and restaurant kitchens of New York City, and still finds her back where it all began, her very small, though recently upgraded, East Village kitchen.

Who is the blogger cooking the recipes, taking the pictures, and writing about it all?

That would be me (Lauren)!

I’m the cook, photographer, and author. I’m also a voracious cookbook reader, magazine recipe scavenger, and grocery bag mule. Cooking became a constant part of my life from the time I moved to New York City, and it became a hobby and addiction as I pursued a couple of different careers (management consultant, Bronx middle school teacher,  and then a career in marketing for various technology companies), which just never measured up when compared to cooking.  I spent a lot of time making excuses for not going after a career in food, but I recently decided that life is too short (and all kinds of other cliche affirmation statements) to not be doing something that I love. So, in July 2009, I left the corporate world to begin my formal culinary training as a student of the professional International Bread Baking and Pastry Arts programs at the French Culinary Institute. It was an amazing, life-changing decision, and I haven’t looked back since.

This site supports:

•    Creativity in the kitchen

•    Taking risks, sometimes with less-than-delicious results

•    Local farmers, butchers, and other small producers of quality ingredients that are better for us, and hopefully, the planet too

•    Easy-to-find ingredients

This site isn’t that into:

•    Processed foods

•    Hard to find ingredients

•    Excuses – anyone can learn to cook

This site is powered by:

•    Wine and coffee

•    The tireless support from friends and family

I like hearing from readers. Please feel free to email me: eastvillagekitchen at gmail dot com

Unless otherwise specified, all photos have been taken by me. All images and text are protected under a creative commons license. My work may not be used for commercial purposes, may not be copied, distributed or displayed without my permission, and must always be attributed to me. Please email me at eastvillagekitchen at gmail dot com if you have any questions.

Tech support:

This is a Wordpress blog with significant  modifications. Huge thank yous are in order for Paul Llanos (designer) and Brian Weisenthal (programmer/boyfriend/fiance) of 9MMedia for making the East Village Kitchen dream the stuff of reality.