tomsaaristo.com was created in the spring of 1997 out of my love of entertaining and my passion for writing and sharing my knowledge and experience with friends, family and those soon to be one or the other.
I have been baking since before I was in school, helping my mother bake cookies and family birthday cakes. After a few years, I was the one in charge of baking everyone’s birthday cake. Once I was out of school I found myself still baking, but this time for co-workers and friends in honor of their birthdays.
Around the same time I started honing my hosting skills and having friends and family over on a regular basis for weekend brunch or holidays celebrated with food. Out of that grew my passion of hosting my friends for a quick catch up and home- cooked meal at my Tuesday Night Supper Clubs, a nod to the Gourmet Supper Clubs my parents were a part of in the late 1970’s where I often played bartender, bus boy, and entertainer in the form of amateur Magician.
It was not until my first foray into fine dining that I discovered the Chef’s Tasting Menu and began to use the Thanksgiving holiday as my culinary tour de force for my own versions of 10 and 12 course tasting menus. I eschewed turkey for more unique dishes including Individual Beef Wellington, Duck Breast au Poivre, Alder wood- smoked tomato bisque, Caviar sandwiches, and Tarte Tatin with Candied bacon.
Along the way I built what is now regarded as one of the very first food blogs. I cannot claim to be the best, but I do claim to be one of the first and have the hate email from that era to prove it. When others were expunging political dribble, I was building an archive of culinary blog posts and recipes that most regarded as ridiculous. Now you can’t throw a copper pot without coming across a food website, and I think that is fantastic. The quantity and quality of content out there is wonderful.
I am glad to still be here affecting the culinary landscape and having a flurry of friends and family who let me cook for them. You get to experience those meals through my writings on entertaining, unique recipes, and thoughtful blog posts, 15 years and still plugging along.
I love to read from visitors to the site. Please feel free to offer any feedback at any time via email
Thank you for visiting the site. I hope you find something deliciously inspiring for your next soiree
Cheers,
Tom Founder, writer, producer tomsaaristo.com and 'Confessions of a Foodie'