About Jess
Welcome to Plays Well With Butter!
Hi there, Iโm Jess โ the founder and recipe developer behind Plays Well With Butter!
I spent my college years obsessing over flavor while working at fine dining restaurants, but then corporate life nearly sucked all the fun out of my love for food.
After a 12-hour day commuting downtown and working a desk job, Iโd return home in the dark, exhausted and hungry, and all of a sudden, dinner felt like a chore I had to do โ not the fun, curious exploration I craved. I simply had to find a way to preserve my love of cooking that fit real life.
My love of food grew in restaurants, but the real story actually goes back even farther to my momโs kitchen in rural Wisconsin and summers at my Grandpaโs house on Oโahu.
My mom has always been my biggest inspiration in the kitchen. She was born and raised in Honolulu, but moved to Wisconsin after marrying my dad. In the Midwest, she had to learn some savvy kitchen skills to recreate her favorite recipes (without any Asian grocery store!). Her cooking always packed the most flavor with the fewest low-fuss ingredients.
When we traveled back to Hawaii, we were always welcomed with food. As long as I can remember, my family has shown their love through cooking โ whether it was poolside grilled kalbi or handmade spam musubi. Many of these family recipes can be found in my self-published cookbook, A Taste of Hawaiสปi at Home.
Buy My Cookbook A Taste of Hawaiสปi at Home
This digital cookbook contains 35+ tried-and-true recipes cherished by my Hawaiian family to deliver the best taste of the islands, no matter where you live.
When you combine this generous spirit of aloha with being raised in the hospitable, comfort-food culture of the Midwest, it makes sense that I grew up with a deep love for making sure everyone around me feels welcome and well-fed. ๐ฅฐ
Thatโs why, back in my days working a busy corporate schedule, I knew I would never be happy resigning myself to a lifetime of rushed, mediocre weeknight dinners. So I stopped relying on the basic recipes I found on Pinterest and decided to create my own.
(Yes, thatโs Mark Ruffalo!)
Thatโs how Plays Well With Butter began! Iโve been obsessively testing and sharing recipes since 2016, and am proud to say Iโve cracked the code on balancing fast + fabulous. โจ
A Little More About Me…
Most days, youโll find me in my cozy South Minneapolis home with my husband Chris (weโre teenage sweethearts who took a decade of detours to figure it out โ very Freddie Prinze Jr. movie, puka shell necklaces and all), our 3 dogs โ PBR (forever my big guy ๐พ๐), Bodie (our rascal bear ๐ป), and Lilikoi (our newest addition! ๐) โ and my freezer stash of emotional support parmesan rinds (you never know when youโll crave a pot of soup, ok?!).
When Iโm not recipe testing, Iโm probably reading an unhinged romance novel on the porch and yapping about it on Instagram Stories (sorry, Momย ๐ ), tuning in for the newest episode Greyโs Anatomy after 20+ years (yes, really), or counting down to Christmas like Buddy the Elf.
A Few Other Obsessionsโฆ
- Living my best 83-year-old life at 38: Sunday crosswords, jigsaw puzzles, gardening, and a very unfortunate taste for very expensive champagne.
- Trying (key word: trying) to arrange flowers. My house always feels better with fresh bloomsโฆeven if they look like a toddler put them together.
- Losing my mind at the farmers market and coming home with a truly unreasonable amount of seasonal pretties. (See: that one time I bought 12 lbs of honeynut squash. ๐ซ )
- Chasing down the best fancy pastries and coffee Minneapolis has to offer (respectively: pistachio roll at Dahlia; tiramisu iced latte at Caphin โ easy on the milk, heavy on the ice).
- Spending summer weekends at the lake cabin doingโฆabsolutely nothing. โจ
Follow me on Instagram to see more glimpses of everyday life in the PWWB House, and find all my current favorite things on my Amazon Storefront.
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