About this site

The Spicy IT is where I write about cooking, food experiments, and things I’ve tried (and quite usually messed up) in the kitchen.

It’s not a recipe blog in the traditional sense, and it probably won't have perfect photos or posting schedules. Sometimes there’s a recipe, sometimes it’s just notes, and sometimes it’s just something that worked well enough to remember for next time.

This site exists mostly as a creative outlet and a place to document things I enjoy outside of work. Posts are not published on a schedule, photos are often taken quickly, and everything here is intentionally low-pressure.

If you find something useful or interesting, great. If not, that’s okay too.

About Me

I'm not a professional chef, far from it. I'm just a guy who's learning to make edible things one dish at a time. I also enjoy making meals for my wife to try. I work as a Systems and Network Administrator during the day (and some nights). I tinker in my homelab from time to time. If you're curious about that side of my life, you can find it over at philipgaw.com

My cooking journey started early 2020, when my mom got sick and could no longer make her dishes. I asked her to teach me how to cook the foods I grew up with. She passed away late 2021 and because of my busy schedule, I wasn't able to get a lot of her recipes. but I did manage to get a few. Some of those I've posted here, along with attempts to recreate others. Some turned out pretty close others were... tragic.

This site started as a way to keep what I learned from her, and to document what I’ve continued learning on my own.

To my mom, I hope I make you proud of what I’ve learned along the way.