ABOUT US
Hello folks, Ron here. Thank you very much for taking the time to look at our about us page. We hope you enjoy reading the blog as much we enjoy working on it!
The Pear Tree Kitchen is primarily a mother-son food blog. Sometimes the sister and wife chime in, but for the most part it’s mom (Beth) and son (Ron). Cooking has become an important aspect of both of our lives. Our family kitchens have been a source of relaxation, harmony, and togetherness. The kitchen is where our families congregate at our family functions or get-togethers and is the heart of our homes.
The name Pear Tree Kitchen has some old roots for our family. My uncle, Beth’s brother, use to call my grandfather’s old semi-truck the pear tree truck when he was a child. My grandfather’s CB handle was even The Pear Tree. The truck was painted with the colors black and yellow, just like a pear. Neither my uncle, grandfather, or grandmother are with us today, but the name Pear Tree pays homage to them as their unique family dynamic dramatically influenced my mother’s cooking. And my mother’s cooking has greatly influenced mine.
Our primary goal for our blog is to share our passion of cooking and being in the kitchen. We also hope to educate new and young home chefs. This blog is also a source to help my culinary-challenged sister because she frequently bombards my mother with cooking questions. We also hope my new daughter, Beth’s new granddaughter, will also be able to look back at recipes on this blog and remember her father and grandmother. We like to consider this our legacy.
Feel free to message us if you have questions, comments, or concerns. We love hearing from our readers and we absolutely love feedback, even the critical stuff. Don’t forget to follow us on Twitter and Facebook. You can even find us on Pinterest , Yummly, FoodGawker, and FoodYub.
You can also see more information about each of below.
Cheers,
Ron
Beth Mueller
Reading the blog you will see I have a husband, Andy, and his flavor preferences drive many of my recipes and certainly my cooking habits. I have been blessed with two children; Ron, as many of you already know is my partner in crime on the blog, and Erica, who I loving refer to as Bless Her Kitchen Heart because somehow the cooking gene skipped her. She tries and she is getting better, but as she would say “the struggle is real.” When she finally graduates vet school, we have reserved a spot for her on the family blog for some veterinary advice and perhaps some true beginner recipes. If she can pull them off, anyone can!
In addition, I have a wonderful daughter-in-law, Sam, who also loves to cook. She and Ron blessed me with my first grandchild. This blog is for her and Erica.
Erica cannot remember a recipe, nor does she write any of them down. I have a tattered folder that has many stained recipes and chicken scratch note cards that she thumbs through on every visit. Often she has said when I die, she gets the folder. When my maternal grandmother passed away, her recipes disappeared, with the exception of one, strawberry shortcake.
I wanted to leave my recipes for Erica and my granddaughter, so there is never a question about where did the recipes go. Ron and Sam have asked for the recipes they wanted over the years and have come up with a few of their own, as you can see by reading the blog.
I do not have any one style of cooking I prefer. I just love to cook. Many regions have influenced my tastes and preferences. I might be what some people call a vagabond or gypsy.
I currently live in the Midtown area of Tulsa, Oklahoma and have been in the same house for almost 6 years now. That’s a record for me. I have called other towns in Illinois, Kentucky, Florida, and Mississippi home. I’ve probably stayed here the longest because I’m a small-town girl at heart who loves the conveniences of a larger city. Cooking is a comfort activity for me, (stressed, happy, sad, angry, hungry) …… I cook!.
I love that I can run to the store and pick up whatever ingredients or tools I need and get right to it. Yet sometimes I yearn for the small town atmosphere where people are not in such a hurry and get to know each other. Traffic is the one hassle I do not like about a bigger town. I learned to drive at the age of 15 on the Dan Ryan Expressway in Chicago, but that did not prepare me for the Tulsa highway system.
For the most part, I am a self-taught cook. I started cooking when I was around 13. Cooking was not my mother’s favorite chore. Even the grocery shopping was handed over to me when I finally had a driver’s license. If given a choice, steaks on the grill would have been the only meal she ever ate. There were a few dishes that she made well, and some that needed added flavor. This is when my kitchen experimentation began.
To this day, steak is not my favorite meal. It wouldn’t be on a list for my last meal. Chicken soup of some sort would probably be at the top of that list.
I was not a great cook in the beginning. There were all kinds of trials and many errors. Honestly, I still have some errors.
The one message I hope to leave behind is that cooking can be done by anyone. You don’t need a lot of skill in the beginning, just start trying and the skills will come. Experiment in the kitchen. Have fun. Laugh at your own cooking disasters. Enjoy the successful dishes.
What’s the worst thing that could happen? You have a disaster or an inedible dish and you order out.
I live a pretty boring life. I tend to keep myself occupied with work and blogging, but feel free to look me up on Facebook or twitter @bethunz and you can see my few followers and how few I follow, I am not new to Twitter, I have had an account since the beginning of time, but I am new to actually checking in a regular basis.
You can also contact me by email: beth @ peartreekitchen.com
Ron Unz
I am a scientist by trade, but a foodie and beer nerd at heart. I spend my days in my office or lab and my evenings cooking meals or dreaming about beer (I swear, I’m not an alcoholic. I just really like beer). Cooking hasn’t always been one of my passions, but over the past 10-12 years it has become one of my favorite ways to relax after a hard day. Work life can be stressful sometimes, so it’s great for me to have a creative outlet. Cooking also really brings harmony to my home. The kitchen is the center of our house hold and brings our family and friends closer together.
I didn’t really have a passion for cooking until I reached high school. Cooking was a necessity more than a luxury at the time. There weren’t good cooks in the house at the time (father nor step mother were very good in the kitchen), so it was up to me a lot of nights to figure out what and the hell was for dinner.
I didn’t really take cooking seriously until my Freshman year of college. I lived with my grandmother and her drunkard boyfriend at the time and both were terrible behind the stove. I feel dirty saying my grandmother couldn’t cook. Aren’t all grandmother’s supposed to be good cooks?! However, my grandmother didn’t have a clue and Dave liked to cook-while-inebriated (CWI). With Dave cooking you never knew what monstrosity was going to be stewing when you came home from class.
I applied to the Pennsylvania Culinary Arts institute later my freshman year of college. Oddly enough, my wife applied to the exact same school as I did at the same time. We both decided to not go to culinary school and continue our education at Mississippi State University (Go Bulldawgs!). We would meet about a year later and our culinary forces would combine. Now I love dabbling with grilled delights, homebrew, cured meats, and all kinds of unhealthy delectables. Don’t get me started on my homemade bacon!
I’m also an avid homebrewer. Besides cooking, homebrewing drives my social life and what I do with most of my remaining free time. I have been brewing for almost 7 years now and have managed to win a few awards for my goofy creations. I love all things beer: brewing beer, cooking with beer, sharing beer, and educating people on how to evaluate beer. I’m also a BJCP certified beer judge. You can expect some food pairings and beer education out of some of my posts.
Ron @ PearTreeKitchen.com
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