About

Welcome to The Five Marias!

My name is Desiree, and The Five Marias has been a passion project of mine for the past couple of years.  I’ve been creating and writing a family cookbook, with recipes from my Portuguese grandmother and her four sisters.  Since I started this project, I’ve also moved to New York City and started exploring a new neighborhood each month.  I explore the foods, hidden treasures and history of each neighborhood, so that I can really get to know it and not just the tourist version of it.  In these two years, I’ve also completed The Five Marias Cookbook, and it’s beautiful and tangible!  You can find a copy here in the Shop section.

So with that said, why should you stick around, you may ask?  Because not only is this a place where you can find every recipe from the cookbook, but I’ll also be creating new recipes and making some old favorites, and you’ll be the first to know!  Also, you will find a New Yorker’s guide to this great city’s neighborhoods and your friends and family will be impressed (and so will you!), when you take them to where the locals hang and when you even come upon a place the locals don’t know about!  You’ll find each neighborhood guide in the Local Wayfarer section.

So stick around and happy cooking, baking and exploring!