About Marcello’s Place
Welcome to Marcello’s Place!
We are Eunice and Jorn, and we enjoy helping busy families prepare delicious meals without fuss. Here at our website MarcellosPlace.com, you’ll find easy, flavorful recipes perfect for both quick weeknight dinners and special occasions.
One of us writes most of the code, the other most of the recipes — together, we make Marcello’s Place. Let us introduce ourselves!
About Eunice, recipe developer
I prepared my first family meal at age nine. My mom was stuck in traffic, my siblings were hungry, and school was starting soon, so I quickly cooked up rice with beans, chicken, onions, and peppers. Mom was stunned when she found I’d learned just by watching her cook. Since then, cooking has become my favorite way to relax and spend time.
A New Yorker for most of my life, I started out on Wall Street trading floors right after college, where you had to be loud and decisive just to get heard. I guess that explains my take-no-prisoners attitude in the kitchen!
I like complex, layered flavors and season my food boldly with staple seasonings like garlic, salt, pepper, paprika, sofrito, and (importantly!) bouillon.
At our home, holidays and special occasions have their signature dishes. Super Bowl Sundays mean spicy buffalo wings; Memorial Day barbecues and Cinco de Mayo potlucks are about smoked brisket, fresh guacamole and grilled veggies.
I love cooking with the seasons. Spring means trips to the farmers’ market and growing fresh herbs, summer is for grilling outdoors and creative popsicles, autumn calls for hearty casseroles and soups, and winter is perfect for cozy baking and comfort food.
My kitchen is uncluttered: I rely on few but high-quality tools like a Viking gas stove and a set of Japanese knives, kept honed and sharp at all times.
Food waste is a pet peeve. Pasta water enriches sauces, and vegetable water becomes a soup base. I like efficiency and control: aprons with pockets keep utensils close, and if I see someone struggling in the kitchen, I step in. My Taekwondo black belt probably helps me get away with that!
About Jorn, software developer
I spent much of my career as a software entrepreneur traveling across Europe, Asia, and the United States. Having logged more flights than I care to count, I now spend more time at home: coding, cooking, and sharing meals with my daughter.
Sometimes, the coding background trickles through in the kitchen: a lumpy pancake batter needs “refactoring”, burnt toast requires a “hotfix”, and missing ingredients trigger a quick “dependency check”.
Growing up, cooking duties at home were shared. My dad’s standout dish used to be a marvelous spaghetti bolognese that I still cook the same way today.
My mom is known for desserts, especially her “Tropical Ice Cream”, which is actually a pudding. During one of my dad’s poetry club meetings, one guest famously kept finding new ways to accept another serving: “Well, if you insist,” “I wouldn’t say no,” “Maybe just one more,” and “It’d be rude to decline.”
Mom’s secret weapon is a tongue-in-cheek cheating cookbook called Darling, You Shouldn’t Have Gone To So Much Trouble, where everyday items like canned Campbell’s soup magically become gourmet dishes with, say, a splash of brandy.
No cheating is involved though in her signature recipe “Chicken with Secret Sauce”, a closely guarded family secret passed only from mother to daughter. Unfortunately for me, I don’t have any sisters.
In college, cooking in shared dorm kitchens was challenging due to limited space and lots of dirty dishes. Usually, I managed just enough room for a pot of chili or rice with almonds and orange slices, prepping ingredients right above the pan.
Since then, I have been gradually expanding my culinary skills. Somehow – I wonder why – that expansion went first into cookies, cakes, (apple) pies and (Linzer) tarts.
As my daughter grew up, the focus shifted to heartier fare. I even established a weekly routine: stir-fries on Mondays, (shepherd’s) pies on Tuesdays, steak and salad on Wednesdays, and something special on Sundays — like salmon seared on a Himalayan salt block.
After years of practice, I believe I’m still a better developer than chef, but with Eunice’s guidance, who knows what will happen in the future?