Ask me who in the world I most enjoy cooking for and I won’t hesitate – hands down it’s my brother-in-law Umit Celebi. Why? Because not only does Umit love food – he’s passionate about every aspect of it – the cooking, certainly; but also the history of food, the cultural nuance and the gathering of ingredients.

When you put a platter of food in front of Umit, he gets so excited he practically quivers. He knows how to make a cook feel truly appreciated, and if you want to be invited back to dinner in your friends’ homes – trust me -- this is a valuable skill to develop.

It’s my pleasure to introduce Umit as our newest Guest Blogger for Kitchen Scoop. He’s a man with a mission, and here it is in his own words, excerpted from the first installment of Umit’s blog, tentatively titled “Eat Me in Manhattan:”

“I am most interested in helping my male brethren produce mouth-watering meals at home. There, I’ve said it. That’s my mission statement. Stand up straight and repeat after me: Boys, we can cook and, (here’s what might set this blog apart), we can grocery shop.”

Umit’s first blog post gives you the juicy details for producing a magnificent pork tenderloin from an historic purveyor in New York City. Now we aren’t all residents of New York and we aren’t all men, but it’s my firm belief that we can all enjoy and learn from what I’ll called “Umit’s forays with food.”

For the record Umit, (pronounced E-mit), is an actor, and a native of Turkey who grew up in The Netherlands. He came to the United States to study at Brown and has been here ever since. In the intervening years Umit has lived in neighborhoods all over Manhattan. He currently resides near Ground Zero with his wife, Kate, and their daughters, Ajda and Mavi.

Please join me in welcoming Umit and “Eat Me in Manhattan” to Kitchen Scoop. Click here to read the first blog post.