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I'm a 20something lifelong resident of Ohio with a passion for the kitchen and bar. I'm a graduate student in biology by day, kitchen adventurer by night and weekend. Sharing food or drink brings me tremendous joy, though cooking also offers me stress relief (most days) and the instant gratification of completing a project, compared to the slower pace of scientific research I do each day in the lab.
My food philosophy is straightforward: if it looks tasty, I eat it.
My cooking philosophy is similar: if the recipe looks tasty, I make it and eat it. Sometimes I even share. Though I will admit to trying a recipe because I was: a) intrigued by the ingredient combination, b) excited by the chance to try a new technique in the kitchen, c) searching for the perfect version of a recipe and this might be it!, or d) all the above. I'm not immune to impulse-cooking, people. And the times it pays off are absolutely glorious.
I'm far from perfect at this, but I try to use fresh, seasonal ingredients when I can, particularly produce. I try to have an overall balanced diet of protein, whole grains, fruits and veggies, and dairy. But I indulge in sweets, treats, and drinks. It's all about moderation, even if I'm still figuring out what moderation and balance actually mean. I have no professional training, just a passion and an intense desire to learn how and why things work/happen in the kitchen. If you share my curiosity, I suggest reading Alton Brown's cookbooks (I'm Just Here for the Food: Version 2.0 and I'm Just Here for More Food: Food x Mixing + Heat = Baking) as well as Alton Brown's source material, On Food and Cooking by Harold McGee. Also, America's Test Kitchen recently released a book called The Science of Good Cooking which falls into the same category. They're epic, sometimes intense, and absolutely satisfying to my scientific and nerdy self without being overly technical.
Playing bartender is another passion of mine, from beer to cocktails. I love trying new brews and mixing different cocktails t
What's with the name Hops?
Honestly, the word popped into my head as I was creating the blog. The more I rolled it around in my head, the more I liked it. At the time, I hadn't fully settled on a food-centric blog, so I figured hops could mean all the different topics I'd hop between or the different areas of my life I'd bounce around in my posts. Now it mostly refers to how I hop from one culinary adventure to another, whether it's different cookbooks, trying a new recipe or developing one of my own, or hopping between kitchen and bar, because, well, I enjoy a good drink now and then. I didn't intend to evoke images of the hops used to brew beer, though I certainly a fan of theirs.
Outside the Kitchen
I love exercising, from spinning classes to power yoga to interval training to barre. Most of all, I love strength training, thanks to several summers spent training for college soccer. Learning how to lift properly and discovering you can do much, much more than you thought you could is utterly addictive. I was recently certified to teach TRX suspension training, an amazingly fun and challenging form of bodyweight resistance training.
Another somewhat random interest of mine? Perfumes. It started with a book - The Emperor of Scent by Chandler Burr. Though it involves a wee tiny bit of science, the story of this guy, Luca Turin, and how he developed his theory for how we smell things, is incredibly entertaining. I ended up reading Luca Turin's Perfumes: The A-Z Guide (with Tania Sanchez), which is actually hilarious, and found myself to be a perfume critic whenever I see a bottle. Of course, this means I've started collecting perfumes and get inordinately excited whenever I can sniff a sample of a rare or highly-rated perfume. Oops.
