I’m Stephanie Cmar — chef, writer, creative feral goblin, and accidental founder of what I lovingly refer to as The Shitty Empire. I’ve spent the last two decades cooking in fine-dining kitchens, competing on Top Chef, burning toast in my own home, and somehow turning all of that into a multi-channel universe of stories, food, chaos, and questionable life choices.

I believe in joy, nostalgia, and the holy trinity of survival: snacks, jokes, and gentle dissociation. I like to cook things that make people happy and write things that make people say, “Wow, same,” or “Are you okay?” (Honestly, either reaction is fine.)

If you’re into food, feelings, ADHD brain spirals, edible-fueled epiphanies, or watching a grown woman chase her dreams with a chef knife in one hand and a lighter she definitely stole from someone in the other — welcome. You’re home now.

Let’s get weird. Let’s get cozy. Let’s make something good and maybe burn a little along the way.