Hi, I’m Dina. And I learned to cook because I had to, not because I wanted to.

When I had my first kid, I was 26 and completely clueless in the kitchen. I could make exactly three things: scrambled eggs, pasta with jar sauce, and burnt grilled cheese. But then you have this tiny human depending on you, and suddenly you’re googling “how to roast a chicken” at 10pm because you want them to eat real food.

So I just started cooking. Every night. Making mistakes, figuring it out. I still have the wooden cutting board my sister gave me that first year. It’s stained and warped and has a weird burn mark from when I put a hot pan on it by accident, but I can’t get rid of it.

These days I cook without thinking about it. Friday is always homemade pizza night. I make my coffee in the same chipped mug every morning. And yes, I still sometimes over-salt things because I never learned to measure properly.

This site is basically my kitchen notebook. The stuff that actually works. The recipes I make over and over. Nothing fancy, just good food.