About Sandi Mardigian


What I like about food......

The short answer would be: just about everything. I like reading about it and I like talking about it. I like cooking it and I like eating it. My family and friends have heard me say “I’ve never met a food I didn’t like” so often that they go out of their way to find, send me or feed me rare and exotic grub. (Candied seeds, purple popcorn and the ever memorable baby eels--after sufficient Sangria.) The only foods that I don’t or won’t eat are for what I consider philosophical or ethical reasons. I need not go into detail.

I attended Cooking School in England and have taken classes on everything from French haute cuisine to Malaysian vegetarian. My long-suffering husband has been known to get a misty look in his eyes when he sees a hot dog stand and I know that I have heard him mumble about hamburgers in his sleep. (Fortunately, I like those too.)

I have been known to spend hours tracking down details, myths and facts about food and cooking and subsequently sharing my knowledge with anyone who will listen until their eyes start tearing and their foreheads come crashing down on the table top. I am fascinated by the process of creating food. I consider the chemistry of yeast, salt, water and heat one of the profound miracles of life.

I have been writing my own recipes for over twenty years but I am constantly revising them until I feel fairly sure that anyone with even the most meager knowledge of food and cooking would be able to prepare them. For many years I owned a Country General Store with take out food ran a catering business and taught cooking classes. (Yes, all at the same time, but I was much younger then.) Nothing put the wind in my sails so much as seeing somebody get excited about learning to cook and enjoying it. My classes were filled with the laughter and camaraderie that comes from learning, creating and succeeding together. Our unwritten motto was “Never give anything a name until you put it on the table.”

Now I would like to try to combine my love of food, cooking and teaching into a food column that would reflect the fun and joy that cooking can produce.