New Jersey, 2006: I was newly married, living in Sopranos-land and despising my long daily commute into NYC when I struck upon an idea to start a blog. Surely two hours on the bus each day would afford me plenty of time to dream up fodder for a website, right? And from such humble beginnings Minimally Invasive was born. It started as a general purpose sort of thing, but the focus quickly narrowed to food, as you’d expect it to if you’ve ever met me.
Take a look around; I hope you like what you see!
Who am I?
I don’t remember a time when I wasn’t interested in cooking. Growing up in a big Cajun family will do that for a person, I suspect. When you’re surrounded by great food and people who are passionate about making it, something’s going to rub off on you. I’m so thankful for that.
The blog’s tagline, “One little bite won’t kill you” comes directly from my mom. Whenever my sister and I turned up our noses at something she cooked, we’d hear that familiar refrain. I guess I have her to thank for my now-adventurous palate.[/toggle]
Sorry ladies, but I’ve got the best husband around. Gil’s passionate and curious about life and cares so much about reading that we built a library in our house and he stopped having a nightly cocktail (only one) when he realized it was interfering with his ability to digest books. He blogs at Virtual Memories and Montaigne’s Library and puts out the Virtual Memories Podcast biweekly.
Five years ago Gil and I rescued our first greyhound, Rufus T. Firefly Roth. A year later, fearing Ru was getting weird and would be happier with a little brother, we adopted Otis B. Driftwood Roth. Turns out Ru’s never forgiven us for dividing our attention between them, but it’s a happy little family unit nonetheless. [/toggle]
Because of health issues, I adopted a (mostly) gluten-free diet a few years ago, but try to stick to foods that fall naturally into that category for a couple of reasons. For one, processed, refined carbs aren’t great for you whether gluten-free or not, so they’re only an occasional treat. Also, I know what it’s like to have a mediocre grocery store in my neighborhood. It’s nearly impossible to find specialty ingredients without driving for 30 minutes, so I often err on the side of laziness with my home cooking. That’s not to say I don’t enjoy truffle salt or bottarga or sheep’s milk ricotta, but they’re occasional indulgences I enjoy fully when I’m in an area that supports that sort of thing.
I also care strongly about animal welfare, which may sound silly for someone who very willingly eats meat, but I’m strict about buying from farms where the animals are raised and slaughtered humanely and aren’t fed a diet of corn and hormones.
But really, I try to stick to Michael Pollan’s advice: Eat food, not too much, mostly plants.
I’m a self-taught photographer and credit this blog for igniting my passion for the medium. If you look through the archives you’ll see too many awful photos (especially early on), but once my father-in-law gifted me with a Nikon D70 body and old lenses, I really started studying. And then Gourmet folded, at which point I decided that if they weren’t going to provide beautiful pictures for me to look at, I’d try to make them myself. I fail at that more often than I succeed, but last year I realized a big dream. Until then, I was a graphic designer/art director, but last summer I finally moved into food photography full-time and couldn’t be happier with the transition.
I’m a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com. Through this program, I earn a few cents on every order placed when someone clicks through a link to a product on amazon.com. This comes at no cost to you and I promise you I’ll never endorse a product simply to make money; it’s much more important to me to share what I love with you.