About Me

Hello everyone, my name is Guerino and I’m an insurance agent. I love my job but the passion that has always been following me, is ... guess what? '"The Kitchen". I dedicate this blog to my family, especially my parents and my in-laws. My special thanks though, go to my dear beloved grandma Cristina Baluardo, from my childhood.  Also, and no less important, to all the people who shared with me and my family carefree moments of  conviviality, referring in particular to all my friends. Especially the ones from my childhood, that I have raised with my lovely meals, and every time they thanked me for it with a “You are the best!”.

My love for cooking has deep roots and take me back to sweet memories that have faded away. As a child I enthusiastically admired my grandma Christina as she immersed herself in the kitchen, deeply rooted in an old culinary tradition typically Neapolitan, she would hearten our Sundays and beyond. Like in every Neapolitan family there was always a large number of people at our table. My family included my grandma, my parents, and ten children…..and to follow all my uncles on my mother’s side with their wives and children.

At our dinner, looking back to my childhood’s memories, the minimum number of guests was never under fifteen people and it was impressive what grandmother Christine was able to bring to the table, delighting our palates. Obviously I was her favorite grandchild and I’m glad of it, and as her favorite grandchild I was the one to get the "Bite of the Priest" an Italian saying that means I would always get more food in my dish than everyone else…. I would say that the priest didn’t get any food cause I was such a hungry child that I would have left nothing for the poor priest ...

Our lunches and dinners retraced what was involved in our local food tradition, whatever it was, Christmas or some other holidays, the food on our table was just as plentiful. And it was at the table that through the stories of the adults everything would became magic. Now that magic has been lost, adults no longer have time for stories and often the table is just an object to be displayed,  and the only place where a family should reunite together is now wasted.
I can say with certainty that my humble beginnings are alive in my memory and so my desire to carry on that tradition, perhaps a bit 'because as any individual who finds himself far away from his loved ones and his land  I’m probably looking for a link between past and present, between old and new friends, but especially for the transmission of values ​​that should be in everyone.
A well-known poet wrote:  “Children are not ours but of the world" and I can tell you with certainty that the world will be improved only through the values ​​passed to our children.
A special thanks to my children, Francesca and her husband Jeremy, and to Federica and her Henry.  And to my partner in life, Luisa, who stands by me when I turn the kitchen upside down, but in the end, every mess is worth the taste of my food.
<!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]-->
<!--[endif]-->

Thanks to the staff of "Peccati di Gola (Sins of the Throat…you would say “Gluttony)" the cooking school that I attended since October 2010.
With the Chef Sebastian Molani and Cristina I immediately found the will to implement their recommendations and their recipes will be published on this blog.
For more info on the school visit: http://www.peccatidigola.info/  if you love food like me, you will certainly find their classes interesting.

Enjoy your meals.
Guerino Auriemma