Welcome to my blog!

Hey everybody, I’m Derek Martin, your brand new favorite blogger… I hope! As you can see in my profile, I’m a family guy that has a passion for food and wine (and bacon!). While I have no formal training in either field, I have spent the last seventeen years of my life professionally focused on nothing but those two things. I spent fifteen years working at, or running, or even creating, some of New Jersey’s top rated restaurants, and now the last two years I’ve spent working for one of the top fine wine distributors in the United States. Formal training is nice and all, but there is definitely something to be said for learning on the job, and in seventeen years I’ve learned quite a bit.

I’m an avid home cook, and home drinker, and I’ve been posting pictures of my dishes, and various wines, for years on sites such as Facebook and Pinterest. A number of my friends always told me that I should start a blog on food and wine. I always blew it off, thinking it friendly supportive banter… Kind of like telling a kid that when they grow up they can be whatever they want. Let’s face it, that’s not always true! I’m 5’7″ and my wife is 5’2″, my kids have no career in the NBA… What changed my mind today? Honestly, I don’t know. Maybe the last prompting by my lifetime friend Rachel was the straw that broke the camel’s back, maybe I’m just in the right frame of mind, maybe it’s because I’m cooped up in my house with the kiddies during a snow storm with nothing better to do. Regardless of the reason, here I am!

So what can you expect from this blog? I dunno… awesome dishes that can easily be cooked at home, cool esoteric wines, food porn, and lots and lots of bacon for starters. I’ll keep you updated on what I’ve been up to in the kitchen, what I’ve been drinking, what’s hot and what’s not in the world of wine and food. I’ll probably be throwing in some beers and spirits here and there too. I’ll share pics, recipes, ideas, and even open things up to you guys on what you want to see, what you want to learn, etc. etc. etc. You’ll notice on this post there is a contact thinga-ma-bob, feel free to reach out to me and give me some requests on what you want!

Do I know it all? Absolutely not! Do I know more than the average bear? Yeah, probably.

Hopefully you’ll like what you see and keep an eye on my blog, and maybe even tell a friend or two. My next post should be coming shortly, but in the meantime, crack open a bottle of whatever and relax. Life is short, enjoy it!