My Background

It all started when

I turned 56, I began to look back on my life and it occurred to me that my fondest memories are food or music-related, and in most instances, they intertwine. For the sake of argument, I will stick with food.

Frankly, I just love food and at an early age, I was drawn to the sounds of the kitchen. In my deepest recesses, those distinct aromas, and tastes are etched in my memory forever. Beginning with my first bowl of pasta, my Mom's beef stew, Sunday dinners of the perfectly roasted leg of lamb, with crispy potatoes, vegetables and gravy, sizzling steaks on the charcoal grill in the backyard with family and friends, homemade chicken soup simmering on the stove, my first egg roll, my first curry, my first oyster, my first slice of real pizza and the savory-sweet white anchovies I enjoyed in Cinque Terre Italy, when I turned 53. It was and still is something that makes me very, very happy.

Creative cooking has always been a passion for me and a love of food runs deep in my family. The Irwins were in the coffee, tea, spice, wholesale foods business long before I was born and my dad worked as a food salesman for 35 years. I started cooking at home with my Mom when I was a kid. During the summer when I was finished with baseball practice, I would help around the kitchen as my Mother's Sous Chef, we all did.

It was a fun time growing up in the Irwin household and what we learn carries on to this day. My brother and sisters are fantastic cooks. 

Things really got interesting when I landed my first job working in a professional kitchen during my summers at the Jersey Shore back in 1976. That's where my Story begins and that is where it has led me today,

I am still cooking professionally, and have had a wide variety of jobs in the business. I’ve managed food courts, bakeries, cooked in fine dining establishments, seafood houses, delicatessens, gourmet markets, corporate settings, retirement communities, and fast food joints as a teenager. Believe it or not, after all that, I still love the food business.

Update: Cooking during Covid

I just turned 60 years old, two days ago, I'm still cooking, and creating recipes. I've been laid off during this Global pandemic of 2020, so, to occupy my time, while I look for my next opportunity, I work on my cooking website and with my youtube channel.

Check out my youtube channel. Please like and subscribe!

All photos, recipes and writings © Douglas S. Irwin 2018