Welcome!

Hello world! My name is Lizz, and here I am on ready to blog about food — the love of my life, the boyfriend that will always be faithful, the “cheese to my macaroni”.

You may be wondering about the name of my blog. To clear up any confusion, “alizz cuisine” is my cheeky play on the phrase “Allez Cuisine!”, a phrase that was originated by Takeshi Kaga and started battles in the original Iron Chef. It’s loosely translated to mean “Get to the kitchen!” or “Start cooking!”, and I’m hoping that my blog will be an inspiration for you to do just that.

Now, a little bit about me and food. I grew up in a traditional Mediterranean Italian family. My father is a master in the kitchen. Truth be told, I was an obnoxiously picky eater starting around the time I started eating real food. I never ate my vegetables, I stopped eating eggs because a girl in my nursery school class told me she didn’t like them, and my diet consisted of pasta, cheese, and red meat. nice, right? my parents never demanded I clean my plate, or fussed too much about what I ate. I was always a skinny kid, so I just think they were happy I enjoyed eating the things I loved so much and let me eat as much as I wanted.

Since I moved from my suburban tri state area home to the big city almost 10 years ago, eating out has always been one of my favorite things to do. From filet mignon to hot dogs my city has the best of the best, and if you need to know where to find it, I can tell you. Oddly enough, my love for cooking is fairly recent. I’ve made a mean bolognese for years, but until about a year ago, that was about it. There’s no excuse really, but for now I’ll just say I was busy with work, unsatisfied with my kitchen, or just too damn tired at the end of the day to get the job done.

So how did things change you ask? I got bored. Plain and simple. One day I turned on the TV and started flipping through the channels. I stumbled on a program (don’t you just love that term? it reminds me of my grandma) on the Food Channel called “30 Minute Meals” and the host was Rachael Ray. I tuned in, not because I was interested in what RR was cooking up, but I was interested to see what this b*tch was all about. Some people love her, some people loathe her. I was bored (and a little hungover) and ready to form opinions. About 10 minutes in, she seemed pretty innocuous. Maybe a little annoying (since then my opinion changed from “maybe a little” to “extremely” after hearing “EVOO”, one too many times. Honestly, is the EV really necessary? Who uses olive oil that’s not extra virgin?!) but not enough that I wasn’t completely consumed by her Tarragon Chicken. I love tarragon. I finished up the program and I had to make it. My friend Shannon was scheduled to come over that week for a girls night. Rather than ordering in, I suggested that I’d cook for us. It was nothing special, just RR’s Tarragon Chicken and some brown rice that I cooked in chicken broth (instead of water — I thought that was SO genius.) Needless to say Shannon and I were both licking our plates. I’ve always enjoyed a challenge and I thought if I did it once, could I do it again? Thus, the affair in the kitchen began.

Ok sooo, even though I’m sitting at my desk (noshing on a brick of danish blue, and sipping a glass of cab) typing this, I feel like I just did a few laps. Time to wrap up my first blog post because I’ve got a pound of shrimp that I’ve got to cook (thank you Elie Krieger for the BEST shrimp recipe ever! and another glass (or two) of cabernet to drink. What you can expect from this blog:

1. Pictures. I usually take pictures of everything I eat.
2. Lots of talk about Cheese. Yes, that’s Cheese with a capital “C”. The most important food there is. If I’ve piqued your interest, rest assured. This topic will be addressed at length.
3. General rants and raves, my cooking tips, recipes, restaurant reviews, and random tidbits. If it’s something I love, I love to share it (for starters, the Tuscan White Bean soup at Apiary right now — to die for, and the monday night BYOB w/ no corkage — not the worst either! )
4. Definitely more stuff but I need to get started on that shrimp!

That’s all for now folks. Until next time, La vie est trop courte pour boire du mauvais vin. Cheers!