Aloha, from San Francisco

Welcome to Fix Feast Flair, a project that has been in the works for a little over three years. Hard to believe that it has taken this long to kick it off but I'm in the better late than never camp, so here it is! So why "Fix Feast Flair"? Well, it's a long story (doesn't everyone say that--I swear it really is though) so I'll start fairly close to the beginning. I grew up in a family where life is centered around the table. Both my mother and father are fantastic cooks, albeit with very different methods and styles, and over many, many years, they have instilled their love of the kitchen in me.

I've been on this culinary journey for as long as I can remember and a few years back, I thought to myself, why not share some of what I've learned with friends and family. This is an expression of my twenty something years of informal culinary training. When I thought about what I wanted to share, I decided I wanted to focus on sharing my three favorite areas of this world, those being the "fix"ing element, the "feast"ing aspect, and all the awesome "flair" that goes into the first two.

Hence came, Fix Feast Flair. Here's my more formal definition of the three categories, although let's be real here, nothing about this blog is formal.

FIX: COOK, BAKE, MAKE

FEAST: DINING, ENTERTAINING, GENERAL EATING BOTH IN AND OUT OF HOME

FLAIR: PROVISIONS (ONLY THE COOL ONES)

A bit more about me, in case you weren't bored yet. I was born and raised on Maui, Hawaii, shipped myself off to the University of San Diego for four years (I can dive into this later) and inevitably found myself back in Hawaii, however, this time on a different island, Oahu. Discovered the "food scene" in Honolulu, hitting up Saturday Farmer's Markets at Kapiolani Community College and snagging invites when I could to the coolest "foodie" events. After a few years, I have to admit, I got a little stir crazy and decided it was a brilliant idea to teach English for a year in Madrid, Spain. If the first few paragraphs you've read haven't made it apparent yet, I might not be the best person to be teaching the English language but again, that is a story for another time. After I ate my way through every pastelería and panadería and consumed more than my fair share of jamón Ibérico de bellotta and manchego, I made my way back to Hawaii only to move to San Francisco a year later. 

I've been in San Francisco for a little over two years now and in those two years I've cooked my way through three tiny (and I really genuinely mean tiny) kitchens. And now, with zero formal training, unless you count a two-three hour soufflé class taught in a garage in the Mission District of San Francisco (or was it the Castro) and another two-three hour pie class in the Dogpatch, I give you Fix Feast Flair. Thanks for taking the time to read and hopefully Fix Feast and Flair'n along with me in the future. I promise to share recipes, favorite spots to dine at, tips on hosting dinner parties, and all the awesome provisions I find. 

-AK