Welcome to The Brisket Diaries

Hello and welcome to The Brisket Diaries! My name is Gracie and I am the author/ owner (wow, “owner” sounds very important) of this corner of the internet. I am originally from the Bay Area, CA but have been living, working and, eating in Washington, DC for the last (almost) 13 years. I am a corporate recruiter at a management consulting firm by day and a wanna-be chef and foodie in basically all of my spare time.

I developed my love for cooking at a young age, watching my dad cook meals for my family and friends at home but I didn’t really start cooking on my own until I moved across the country for school. In college, at American University, I was the only person on my dorm floor who owned pots and pans. When I moved into an apartment off campus, I started cooking for my roommates and having our friends over for very amateur dinner parties. When I graduated, I moved into a studio apartment off of Scott’s Circle and spent a lot of time playing in my (tiny) kitchen and learning how to cook for myself.

I pull influence from many different places and parts of my life. I was very lucky to grow up in a place with farmer’s markets galore- Marin County- so I love cooking with fresh, seasonal and local produce. While at American University, I studied abroad in Paris, and I am in awe of simple foods, made with incredible ingredients and perfect techniques. I grew up in a Jewish family, so I love making old family recipes and learning about my family’s history and traditions. Lastly, from being raised in the Bay Area, I was exposed to Asian cuisine at a young age and even had my Bat Mitzvah party at a Dim Sum restaurant in San Francisco.

I love shopping at Asian supermarkets, trying new restaurants, collecting cookbooks from my favorite chefs and just generally planning my life around food. This blog is just a huge excuse to try new restaurants and share some of my favorite recipes and food travel experiences.

Thanks so much for stopping by and I hope you stick around!