ABOUT MC
MY STORYThe recipes and stories you find here are a combination of upbringing and experiences that I hold dear to my heart.
During college, my love of gatherings around the table grew. It was during this time where my exposure to food from other cultures grew through travel and friendships at the University of Tennessee. However, my Sweetie’s table morphed into the dirty Cook Out table at midnight, the booth in my favorite Thai restaurant on the corner, or soul food Mondays with cafeteria tables that could hold up to twenty five if everyone squeezed in tight. These times are what merged the concepts of hospitality and inclusion. As great as these times were, nothing beat going into someone’s home and enjoying a meal cooked for you.
I grew up around all of my extended family in rural Tennessee. Gathering together meant aunts, uncles, and cousins going to my Sweetie’s house for Sunday lunch after church. Now you may ask, “What is a Sweetie?”. Well, in the south you don’t call your grandmother “grandmother”. Their name is Mamaw, Mawmaw, Mimi, Nana, and a million other variations. Family didn’t stop at just extended family - it included friends, friends of friends, or even the random person who walked in church that we had met thirty minutes prior to the meal. This way of growing up lead to many great memories and traditions I cherish today.
Marriage and graduate school brought a different concept of “around the table”. For starters, I actually owned a table! Having the capacity to host people in our own space was what my soul needed. It was during these years we never kicked anyone out of our home. If the conversation was important, the game was too fun, or we just enjoyed each other’s company, friends were told to sleep on the couch if it was late. My type of hospitality isn’t the type where everything has to be magazine photo shoot ready, it’s where people come to feel at home - mess and all. I hope you feel a small part this welcoming presence from across the screen.
Come join our table!
Favorite Coffee
Cortado or Honey Cinnamon Latte
Hometown
Dyersburg, Tennessee
Comfort Food
Crab ragoons and California rolls
Favorite Movie
Parent Trap
Go To Dance Song
Dancing Queen by ABBA
Latest Hobby
Pickleball