Cassandra Burdick
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With a Side of Rice

The first moment…

my parents blended their cultures wasn’t when they got married, nor was it when they had children—it was when my dad cooked my mom dinner for the first time. The only item on the menu that night was lasagna; a traditional Italian dish made with blood, sweat, tears, and ground beef.

Straight out of the oven came the cheesy pasta—however, my mother only had one issue,

“Where’s the rice?” she said.

Confused but eager to please, my father quickly whipped up a pot of basic white rice before serving to my mom and her family of 6 in a tiny pre-war apartment on the Upper West Side.

Call it my mother’s Ecuadorian heritage remaining prominent in our lives, but still to this day it’s a tradition in my family to serve white rice as a side for lasagna—and practically every meal we have together.

An homage to the melting pot of cultures that I am, I’ve created ‘With a Side of Rice’. The perfect representation of my love for food from all over the world.

Buon appetito. Disfrute de su comida. I hope you enjoy.

The Days I Don't Like Pasta

Why does butter and sage sauce terrify me? Complexity nor flavor had reigned terror upon me. Oh no, this is a fear that stems deep from within. The type of fear that every lactose-intolerant eater fears deeply.

The cat is out of the bag, I’m a lactose-intolerant foodie wannabe with restrictions that span farther than meat substitutes. But on the contrary, what is it about butter and sage that really gets the people going? For me, I’d rather opt for a great Cacio e Pepe or maybe a ricotta and lemon pasta. I know what you’re thinking, “Cassie, those two are dairy-based dishes!” Well, imaginary reader, you’re right. But if I’m going to risk it all, I might as well do it right.

My love for pasta is something that was never meant to be broken. Pasta and I have one of the healthiest relationships I’ve ever experienced in my entire lifetime. A kind of unconditional love that’s forever forgiving, forever building, always expanding. It’s been formed, shaped, then reshaped again—kind of like dough.

I give you a love that’s outside of my comfort zone. A love that, even though it’s not a winner, is still worth it. Fettuccine with Brown Butter and Sage.

Cassandra Burdick