About Me

Hello there, and welcome to my little blog, On The Bias. I'm Gianna, and as you may have guessed, I love to cook. I started cooking in college for many reasons- to save money, to eat healthily, and to re-create family recipes that I missed while I was away at school.

But I continued cooking because I truly loved it. There's something so spectacular about creating a wildly delicious meal out of seemingly nothing. It's also a really impressive and useful skill to have.

I'm originally from Northern New Jersey, where I grew up in an Italian-American household. Some of my favorite meals are those that my grandmother used to make (and still does) for holidays and Sunday dinners. Her stuffed peppers, lasagna, and meatloaf are some of my all time favorites.

After high school I moved to Boston, where I attended Northeastern University and received my bachelors and masters degrees in Speech-Language Pathology. Boston's culinary scene is actually pretty darn good, despite being a little overshadowed by nearby NYC.

I became so enthralled with all the good food there was to experience. Boston's Chinatown has 2 of my favorite Chinese restaurants, which are both right on par with some of the best in NYC. The North End, which has unfortunately become spotted with food chains, offers some of the best Italian food I've ever had.

It was in Boston that my love for sushi grew. I had Omakase for the first time, after practically kicking and screaming that I didn't want to go because of how expensive it was. (Just go)

Long story short (too late), dining out was expensive, especially for a college student, but it opened up a new world for me. It was dining out that motivated me to step up my own cooking game. The successes were more rewarding than the fails were discouraging, so I kept it up.

So though I am a home cook without any formal training, I am by no means "self- taught". In fact, I firmly believe that there is no such thing.

Since my love for cooking began over 10 years ago, I've spent countless hours learning from many sources: restaurant menus, Food Network, YouTube, recipe blogs, cookbooks, Bon Appetit, Instagram, a class at the ICE, YouTube, and did I mention YouTube?

I now live with my fiancé, Andrew, and our dog, Wendy, in Brooklyn, New York. It's here that I cook, create recipes, and even provide virtual speech therapy from our dining room table.

On weekends, particularly on Sundays, I'm perfectly happy to settle in, pop open some wine, and spend the day cooking. This is when I make things like braised short ribs, Rigatoni Bolognese, or whole roasted chicken.

On weekdays, I love making faster, but still awesome meals that help get me through the work week- coffee rubbed flank steak and a delicious snappy side salad, a sheet pan meal of salmon and roasted vegetables, and don't even get me started on the joy of whipping up a 15-minute pasta sauce using pasta water as the key ingredient.

My weeknight meals tend to be simpler to make but complex in flavor and texture. Good technique doesn't have to be hard or time-consuming. Sometimes I even impress myself and affirm that I could spend $25 on said meal at a restaurant and not bat an eye.

It's indisputable that eating at good restaurants will always be a huge source of my cooking motivation, but my bank account thanks me for my home cooking skills that fill the gaps.

I hope you enjoy my recipes.