Fierce Femmes: Jenny Pardini, Therapist at Resilience Counseling Group & Food Blogger

By day, mom-of-two Jenny Pardini helps others as a therapist for individuals, families, and couples in her psychotherapy private practice. By night, she takes on a different role, cooking up a storm with her husband, culinary genius Jimmy Pardini, for their family and their hit blog, Umami & Us.

It wasn’t until she started to date Jimmy that Jenny became especially interested in food and cooking. At the beginning of their relationship, their favorite activity was cooking together in Jenny’s studio apartment. While Jimmy worked evenings, Jenny took on experimenting with an array of flavors to create the ultimate midnight snacks. She explains that this was when she learned to cook (in a toaster oven at first!) because she, “didn't want to waste the rest of the rosemary or the leftover fancy cheese.”

Years ago, cooking together as a couple inspired Jenny to create a Facebook album titled, “Sometimes We Stay In and Cook.” The album was even the butt of a few jokes at the couple’s wedding rehearsal dinner. Guests may have laughed that night, but soon enough people were reaching out to Jenny asking her for recipes. After further thought and based on positive reviews (ha!), she decided to create a food blog focused on their food-centric lifestyle. She explains that the blog is not just a hobby, but that “it's how we live, and we feel like if people can incorporate our recipes into their relationships and their families, then all the better.”

So how did they decide on the name for their blog, focused on “family adventures in food”? Umami & Us got its name from the Japanese term “umami” which is a popular flavor in Italian and Korean dishes. Jenny went on to describe umami as a taste that, “fills your whole palate, fills your whole mouth and it's just delicious.” The blog has quickly become a place for Jenny and Jimmy to save their own delicious recipes for their children to have in the future, calling it “their forever.”