I’m Kat Collins – a writer, artist, and closet chef (read self-taught). Because I’m a lover of (mostly) all things edible, bordering on obsession, and a passionate writer, I combined my loves into one world!
I am passionate about is food. I love to eat. I love to read about eating and food. I love to write about food. I love to create succulent dishes for myself and others. I can’t help it. It’s been ingrained in me since I was a child. One of my dad’s favorite sayings when company is over for dinner is, “There’s plenty of food here! So if you leave hungry, it’s your fault!” I don’t know how many times I heard that phrase and variations thereof.
My grandparents fed people. My parents fed people. And now I feed people. I’ll never forget how my Nana (my dad’s mom) would poke at my belly and tell me that I was “too fat.” But then she would turn around and offer me biscuits with honey and butter, creamed rice with sausage and soppy eggs, sweet peaches fresh from her fruit tree, popcorn balls, southern sweet tea, apple pie…it goes on and on. Food was synonymous with being happy, or at least taken care of. It’s how you knew someone loved you.
As I laid in bed reading one night, I started thinking about the foods in my life, how different foods bring to mind different people and different parts of my life. It’s similar to when you smell a certain scent and instantly you are transported to a certain moment in time inside your memories. Food is just as powerful.
I have an unusual mix of foods in my history. My dad is from the South, in North Carolina and my mom is from the North, in Maine. Talk about opposite ends of the spectrum! It’s a rich heritage of an amalgam of foods – Southern cooking and New England foods. Several years ago, I traveled to Italy, and fell in love. Not with a person, but with the country as a whole. I’ve been obsessed with Italian food ever since. Add in a partner who is predominantly German and was raised in Germany, and you’ve got the whole smorgesboard.
But the overall theme is comfort food, regardless of the ethnicity. It is always about making you feel good and loved with a warm coziness in your belly and in your heart.
A few other random tidbits…I live in the Lehigh Valley of Pennsylvania with my partner and two spoiled rotten cats named Nittany and Taz. And yes, the name Nittany is from the Penn State Nittany Lions football team. I’m a bit of a fanatic. (Pittsburgh Steelers, too.) I love to cook (and eat) and like to throw five-course gourmet dinners for my friends. I’m a voracious reader and will read everything and anything, even the back of cereal boxes. Shopping should be my middle name (it’s excellent therapy).
- What is the strangest food you have ever eaten?
- Peanut butter, grape jelly, ketchup, and mayo on a saltine cracker (gross)
- What do you cook when home alone?
- Macaroni and cheese
- Your most treasured kitchen possession:
- Garlic Press
- The ideal number of guests for a dinner party is:
- 6
