After watching a bajillion hours of cooking shows and reading dozens of foodie blogs, we realized the precept of ‘the perfect kitchen’ seemed to be dictated by which company would sponsor a $12,000 oven, or a $5,500 refrigerator, or provide the full line of cookware arranged neatly in cabinets with glorious slide-out shelving beneath gleaming granite countertops.

We ain’t got none of that.

But, we manage to produce some pretty spectacular food in our tiny (the open floor area is less than 21 square feet) kitchen with a four-burner (not quite level) range, tiny 18″ dishwasher, and regular old refrigerator.

Late last year, in preps for spending the holidays with friends, we were re-watching a Martha Stewart segment with Anne Willan who was hawking her new cookbook From My Chateau Kitchen. We couldn’t help but laugh when we realized what a shit-hole our kitchen was in comparison to the glorious photos in her beautiful book. But, we were planning to make her standing rib roast without any of her chateau fanciness. So, the idea for this blog was born. It was originally called MyShitholeKitchen.com but, after a couple of long blank stares, we decided to go with our second choice and here we are.

We believe you don’t need shiny cookware, stainless steel appliances, or granite countertops to make great food. You don’t need a 900 square foot kitchen or a half-acre herb garden (you know who you are Ina Garten). Don’t get me wrong: José definitely channels Martha Stewart when we entertain and he has email-stalked Ina’s poor husband, Jeffrey. I even have photos of José standing in the driveway of Ina’s Hampton’s home.

What you need is imagination, inspiration, and planning. Plus a few intrepid (& foolhardy) friends to help consume your experiments.

So far, we find we are better at documenting our work than translating it into blog posts. Learning to take acceptable photos of food prep has been a bit of a challenge, figuring out how to arrange a recipe and photos on a digital page is not quite perfected yet, and as for our voice – well I’m hoping to get my partner-in-crime and life to start adding his voice here soon.

So stick with us. And if there’s something we can do to make this better let us know: there’s a box down below where you can blather on about stuff.