The Fire

Girl Meets Fire was created to satisfy a gnawing need for creativity. I have worked at all kinds of restaurants my entire adult life. After a while, I began to wonder what I would do with my experience. Would I open my own restaurant? Would I become a culinary arts teacher? Would I write a book?

There was one thing that kept happening to me more frequently. Friends and family asked me to teach them how to cook a specific recipe, execute a technique, or ask me for my recipe right after they ate my food. So I thought, why not create a website where my recipes will be available, where I can explore cooking techniques and dive into more depth on the origins of some foods? Thus, Girl Meets Fire was born.

The Name

Girl Meets Fire gets its name from the fire within us all to pursue a passion. So far in my life, I have done almost all the things I have wanted to do. I am a self-taught visual artist, I studied theater in college, and of course, I also studied culinary arts. The creation of this website has allowed me to tie all of my passions together. Sometimes I think, "I'm too old to start something new," but the reality is; I cannot allow myself not to try something new. Creating this website has brought great joy and many learning opportunities. Anything worth doing requires hard work and sacrifice, but the rewards are priceless.

For whom is Girl Meets Fire

For many years I have ignored my own culture and cuisine. Paying more attention or importance to the cuisines of other places only because they are more popular or readily available. It wasn't until I started to feel homesick and displaced while living in Buffalo, New York. I started to cook Puerto Rican food for myself to stay connected to something that belonged to me. But, I didn't have the guidance of an elder to show me how they cooked.

After a few years at Buffalo, I moved back with my mother and began to enjoy her cooking once again. However, I quickly realized that I didn't know much of Puerto Rican cooking or much of Puerto Rican culture. Throughout my life, I have come across other Puerto Ricans who do not have a strong connection to their heritage and want to recreate dishes they ate as a child. I have been asked to cook for them and to teach them how I cook my dishes. I dedicate Girl Meets Fire to them as well.

Girl Meets Fire is also for the "adopted" Puerto Ricans. The people from other countries that have tasted the delicious dishes my people have to offer and want to learn how it is done. This website is for you because that is how I sometimes feel, like an outsider looking in.

My Hopes

Girl Meets Fire will be a venue for my culinary creativity and my written legacy tying my roots in Puerto Rico. I hope to inspire you. Not only to cook but to pursue that which fuels you. I do not have a team of computer techs, photographers, videographers, marketers, or illustrators. All I have is myself, this computer, and a camera. I have had to learn an intense amount of different technologies to post one page on this website. I want you to keep that in mind when you go through my posts and ask yourself what are you passionate about. Can you pursue that passion? What can you create? I am curious to know.

"Find something you are passionate about, and keep tremendously interested in it." -Julia Childs