About the Quarter-Life Cooks


Big Girls, Small Kitchen (BGSK) is a food and recipe guide for twenty-something cooks looking for user-friendly, affordable ways to navigate their kitchens. The co-authors, Cara Eisenpress and Phoebe Lapine, offer fun and easy entertaining tips to help all cooks make the most of the tools available, big kitchen or small.

Cara and Phoebe's cooking friendship began as a bit of a rivalry over chocolate-chip oatmeal cookies. Whose confection was richer, homier, more chocolate-y? they challenged their friends over Tupperware containers during high-school free periods, Phoebe a proponent of the Joy of Cooking version, Cara of the classic Betty Crocker. The dispute was never settled. The friendship, however, continued.


Now cooking in teeny tiny kitchens 5.5 miles apart in New York, big city of small kitchens, Cara and Phoebe ended up on the same culinary page: as committed to concocting impressive meals for friends and family as to fashioning healthful, inexpensive dishes out of simple ingredients and humble leftovers. This blog highlights our culinary and hosting endeavors as we prepare new recipes and old favorites all the while aiming not to burn our onions, burn down our rental apartments, or burn through our meager budgets.

Our upcoming cookbook, Big Girls, Small Kitchen: 100 Recipes from Our Year of Cooking in the Real World, will be published by William Morrow (Harper Collins) in Spring 2011.

We hope you enjoy reading about our many experiments in quarter-life cooking.


As always, from our kitchen, albeit small, to yours,

Cara and Phoebe, THE-QUARTER-LIFE COOKS

26 comments:

Nicole said...

I love the new slide show!!! What's better than pictures of food and people enjoying it?!

Jit said...

Great post........http://the-seoexperts.blogspot.com

Kelsey B. said...

Fantastic! Added you to my blogroll and am following you - can't wait to be a regular reader.

exromana said...

Thank you so much for your comment on my Basmati post. I had stumbled upon your blog a few weeks ago, and really enjoyed reading it. While creating my blog, wanted to add your site's name to my blogroll but a pity, I couldnt find it again. Thanks to your comment, it has been re-discovered. Your blog is lovely, best wishes, shayma www.thespicesoon.com

Heather said...

I heard about your blog last night while watching Ina's show and I love it! such a great idea for those of us in our twenty-somethings who love food and entertaining. And what a fantastic opportunity to be friends with Ina, she is one of my favorite chefs and just seems like an incredible person in real life. Can't wait to follow your blogs from now on!

Unknown said...

hi phoebe and cara,

just wanted to let you know that i made your chicken with the soy, honey and beer reduction for some friends, and it was delicious. thanks!

Unknown said...

How great that Ina Garten mentioned your blog on her show, 'Barefoot Contessa.' That's definitely a feather in your collective caps! Blog on!

Katie Merk said...

What a great idea for a blog! I saw you on Ina's show. I have been looking for some easy recipes that won't break my small budget! Keep up the good work!

Dish This! said...

I love your blog! As a twenty-something food blogger new to NYC I'm so glad I stumbled upon this. It's making me want to host a dinner party so much! :) Also, way cool you're friends with Ina. Amazing!

www.dishgal.com <-- if you're interested at all :)

Cara of Big Girls, Small Kitchen said...

Thanks, everyone, for the comments and compliments. We're so glad you like the blog and hope you come back often!

Unknown said...

Saw you on Barefoot, that is huge! Nice work girls. I like the food pics very stylish. Keep on going

Saucy Seasonal Chef said...

I have to say, I am infinitely impressed with your blog. Ina Garten is my favorite and when she mentioned your site, I had to check it out. I think a twenty something site is actually relevant for most people that have small kitchens with big aspirations. Thanks for the great reading!

Jeanne
www.saucyseasonalchef.com
San Francisco

Melanie said...

I just stumbled upon your blog through a giveaway I was doing on mine and a commenter recommended your blog as the place they go for great recipes. I am thrilled to be here and can't wait to look around! I love the concept of your blog and your entertaining "about."

Kwright said...

Your blog is completely delightful... I'm also a New York transplant (from Kansas) and enjoy attempting culinary miracles in my closet kitchen. Love IT!

Small point: Very little beats the Betty Crocker original Oatmeal Chocolate Chip cookie in terms of "feel goodness". :-)

sdfljslkdj said...

Hi there,

I gained word of your blog when I watched an episode of Barefoot Contessa that Phoebe was on. I checked it out and I like how the recipes are not only affordable but delicious.

I tried your olive oil pound cake for my birthday and let's just say - I'll be making it again!

I have also been inspired to start my own cooking blog. Who knows? Maybe we'll share cooking tips with each other! I look forward as I will be back again.

Peace,

Vanessa @ Tea and Pearls
http://pearlsandteaa.blogspot.com

Jessie -- The Messie Kitchen said...

I love fellow twenty-something blogs!!! This is a great idea... Cooking with friends is the absolute best! Can't wait to see what you have coming up next.

Jessie
http://www.themessiekitchen.com/

Lauren said...

Just came across your blog from HuffingtonPost.com. The recipes look delicious and I am going to go out and buy me some wonton wrappers and experiment!

Lauren
http://laurenrjacobs.blogspot.com

Unknown said...

When I bought my house through costa rica homes for sale
I expected to have a big stove in the kitchen with a huge space, now I am really happy because I can cook every kind of recipe in my huge stove. I really love it.

Anne said...

this is damn adorable. i found you guys through design sponge, but you're now easily accessible via the bookmarks tab!
nice blog, girls.

B said...

This is so exciting! I can sooo relate to you girls!

dougbittinger said...

My kitchen is not so small, but cooking just for two is sometimes a challenge. I like what I've seen here and will be following along. Thanks for the great recipes!

DNice said...

Thanks for sharing such creativity with the world!

Sara said...

Oh this is so cute!! I was a quarter life cook on Lex & 92nd, working with all the chefs at Best Cellars! Now I'm a California cook working with thousands of recipes at MealsMatter.org Can't wait to read more!

Jamie said...

Just discovered your blog today and I'm already hooked! Everything looks so delicious... I can't wait to start trying recipes. As a former resident of Manhattan, I can testify that it certainly takes a lot of creativity to cook on a budget in a tiny NY kitchen!

Jamie
http://www.bakedwithloveandbutter.com

emeanley said...

Great blog! Love the photos, too. I am 31 but have the cooking skills of a 3-year-old, so this is good for me! Phoebe, I interviewed your dad for San Diego magazine, and he told me about your blog, after I said I blog for Glamour and have a personal blog. Good luck, girls!
http://adultlescence.wordpress.com/
http://www.glamour.com/sex-love-life/blogs/smitten/

Anonymous said...

Wow! Just found your blog and realized your story and take on cooking is so similar to ours! Isn't foodie blogging with two fun?? :)