Hi everyone and warmest welcome! My name is Jocelyn Valdez. I am a student at UNM and I have created this space to share my culinary adventures with you all. My boyfriend of 6 years, whom I also live with, recently graduated culinary school and is an aspiring chef. Not so coincidentally we met while working in an Italian restaurant located in Truth or Consequences, NM called Cafe Bella Luca. It was love at first bite, literally. Shortly after I began working at Cafe Bella Luca as a waitress he offered to make us a bowl of pasta to share. It was and still is my favorite, Carbonara. Rigatoni tossed with fresh peas and sautéed with procuitto in a sherry cream sauce. From that bowl we grew into the tradition of sharing a meal during the shifts we worked together and eventually venturing out to grow our relationship outside of work as well. We have since moved to Las Cruces with his 9 year old son, Ivory, and hope to one day own our restaurant. One of our favorite things to do as a family is cook and eat and try lots of different cuisine’s. We love inviting our friends and family over for dinners and traveling to new places to try all the local bites. I will be posting about those experiences here and I hope you all begin to see the ways in which food brings us together and allows us to express love for one another. Please feel free to comment and share posts of your food faves here as well. We are always looking for new ideas and inspiration, so tell me what you all would like to see next? I look forward to you joining us at the table for our next meal.

-Jocelyn