Things I love: live music, IU basketball (you can take a Hoosier from Indiana, but you can’t take basketball from a Hoosier), cliche things like family and friends, and, oh yea, food! I want to be rich so I can always eat the best food, regardless of cost. After all, everyone gets pleasure from food, sure we have different tastes from person to person, but everyone has a dish that defines winter and summer, everyone has their own local hole-in-the-wall that serves the best whatever. I’ll be writing about my adventures cooking, while occasionally touching on my inspiration for the dish or whatever stories transpire from the meal. I’m what some might call a S.N.A.G. (Sensitive New Age Guy), to others an intellectual bro, and, probably to some, a punk. Regardless of my title depending on whom you talk to, I love food and discovering new tastes and dishes, there is something very rewarding about creating something from scratch that leaves you with a full stomach, or an aching for more, and hopefully my blog will follow my path to food enlightenment.
I want to someday combine two of my passions, social work and cooking. I’m hoping to open a restaurant/agency employing primarily people experiencing homelessness or people coming back from imprisonment. It would be really cool because it would be ran as a non profit business, with all profits going to expand and offer more services. It would be even better if it was self-sustainable, so that it would not depend on donations and grants. My lifelong dream is to be able to lie down at the edge of a rainstorm so that half of my body is getting rained on and the other half stays dry. That is all. Thanks for reading.
Season To Taste 
Hi Josh! I just found your blog (by looking for a hoisin sauce recipe and seeing your review). I just wanted to tell you how much I enjoy reading it! I really appreciate that your honest writing as well.
Thanks for reading and the feedback. I try my hardest to get my personality on the page and to show what makes me tick!
I’m a french onion food junkie, and I noticed your comment on Tyler Florence’s recipe. Do you have a revised version of that recipe? I noticed one recently on your blog, but I didn’t know if it was the same one. Thanks, Tamara Valdiserri
Thanks for reading. I never did get around to posting the recipe, but mine is revised slightly. I used bay leaves, thyme, and basil, used more (I think 6) thyme sprigs, doubled the garlic, added 1 or 2 bouillon cubes, really let all the wine get as evaporated/absorbed as possible, and highly recommend making your own croutons. The carmelization process takes much longer, at least double the time, the more the better as far as I see it. Not to mention tasting the whole time and adding more freshly ground pepper and kosher salt. For the croutons, simply dice a french baguette, heat some olive oil and toss the bread in, season with great spices or a simple salt/pepper and saute to desired crunch. I like having a little extra bread along with some melty cheese and cheese melted on bread.
Hi Josh! I just read about you (above) and was captured by your passion of social work and cooking. This past summer, when I was in Zurich, I went to this restaurant called Restaurant Schipfe 16 which you may be interested in. They have a relaxing atmosphere and serve pretty high end foods, but the greatest part is that they only hire ex-cons, immigrants, and other people who have a hard time finding jobs elsewhere. In fact, they take in people and teach them the entire trade so that they learn a skill (cooking mostly but also waiting and cleaning) to find another job in the future. Just thought you would like to know (this may be a way to make your idea self-sustainable)! I wrote about this place in my blog: http://thelulife.com/2012/05/12/restaurant-schipfe-16/ .
Also, in Chicago, there is Felony Franks, which hires ex-convicts. There seems to be some controversy over this hot dog joint, though.
Sounds like you had an incredible experience at the restaurant, it’s great how accommodating they were. Because of the nature of the business and the lower number of requirements necessary to succeed, the industry has always attracted people such as ex-cons and immigrants. However, in my opinion, it’s not just about supplying a job, but about having services available to those populations to have a better chance at making a life. I love hearing about businesses that make a real effort to better peoples’ lives, thanks so much for sharing your experience and reading my blog!
I certainly did have an incredible experience there! And I’m glad you enjoyed hearing about it!
Hi! I just found your blog browsing through wordpress. I am also interested in combining social service and food. Have you been to Inspiration Cafe in Uptown? They offer employment training for ex-criminals to work at their cafe. Awesome concept, service, and food.
I have heard of it, having actually worked with a couple guys who came from that program, but have not been there. Glad to hear they are producing a great product, it’s on my list of places to try out soon!
Hi Josh! I’ve enjoyed reading your blog. I really like the idea of combing your love of food with social work. Best of luck with that! You might check out Cafe 54 in Tucson Az. Take care and happy cooking!