---
title: "About"
canonical_url: "https://140bites.com/about/"
---

# About

I’m [Cameron McEfee](https://cameronmcefee.com), a former creative director turned indie software developer. My exposure to cooking started with my parents, who worked professional baking and cooking jobs in their early years. In college, I started learning to cook on the theory it would be an attractive quality to a potential partner, but then fell in love — with recipes.

While many cooks eventually settle into a handful of favorites or just make things up as they go, I’ve found following new recipes motivating. New foods, new tricks, and so much scrolling past ads and soliloquies. I cook daily, and when life allows, 1–2 of those recipes are new to me each week.

## The scale

Over time, I adopted a simple 3-step scale: it’s either fine, great, or not worth making again. There’s no five-star nonsense here.

- **great** — Looking forward to making it again.
- **fine** — Would eat it again.
- **meh** — Either a bad recipe or a bad result.

## Byte size reviews

I eventually started sharing my ratings and reviews of the recipes I’ve cooked. This led to working within the constraints of each of the platforms where I shared.

I enjoy constraints. Constraints are where process becomes creativity. Back in the glory days of a certain avian-inspired microblogging platform, the constraint was 140 characters. I loved the challenge of expressing ideas in such a small space.

Here, instead of characters, I measure in *bytes* — I work with software after all. It keeps the reviews short, and special punctuation costs extra. Let this be a cautionary tale about letting a pun dictate the name of your website.

If you also enjoy following recipes, I hope you find my reviews entertaining.

— Cameron

## Contact me

If you would like to send me a message, you can do so at [cm@cameronmcefee.com](mailto:cm@cameronmcefee.com?subject=A%20message%20about%20140%20Bites&body=Dearest%20Cameron%2C%0D%0A%0D%0A%5BYour%20message%20goes%20here%5D%0D%0A%0D%0AWith%20fond%20memories%2C%0D%0A%5BYour%20name%5D%0D%0A%0D%0AP.S.%20My%20favorite%20recipe%20you%20should%20try%20is%3A%20%5Bgimme%20a%20good%20one%5D).

## Facts

The page shows one of these at a time, at random.

- I’ve used a culinary 3d printer to print hotdogs onto ketchup, yes in that order.
- I made 24 separate rice krispie treat recipes in a month.
- I wear a shirt that says “Chicken Daddy” when I fry chicken.
- The most satisfying kitchen tool is a fat separator.
- A sandwich is only as good as its pickled vegetables.
- I don’t put much effort into my cast iron pans.
- I prefer Diamond Crystal kosher salt.
- If I ever get a tattoo, it’ll be a chef’s knife slicing through a mechanical keyboard.
- My favorite spatula is one my wife stole from her parents when she left for college.