Rick' Culinary Journey

About Rick Rounds

I love the Arts!
I enjoy the Culinary Arts as well as sketching, painting, musician, and playing the Piano and Organ and of course Hairstyling!

50+ yrs

15 yrs

Years of experience in the Culinary Arts.

Hairstyling/Barbering

Rick began as a heartfelt culinary blog created by Rick Rounds, a trained and passionate cook whose early influences included a number of celebrated chefs, as well as the timeless, from-scratch cooking of his mother. His style is grounded in tradition—comforting, handcrafted dishes shaped by the flavors and techniques he grew up with. Rick’s love of food and storytelling eventually found a wider audience through his newspaper column, The Bainbridge Banter, where he blended culinary insight with reflections on daily life.

Though Rick built his professional career as a barber and hairstylist—a craft that sustained him for many years—his heart never strayed far from the kitchen. He balanced long days behind the chair with time spent cooking at home, experimenting with dishes, and continuing the culinary lessons that began at his mother’s side. A driven and capable worker, he held multiple secondary jobs across different fields before eventually relocating from Erie, Pennsylvania to Cleveland, Ohio. After years of refining his skills and building a loyal clientele, he opened his own salon in Bainbridge, Ohio in the 1990s. The peaceful countryside soon became home, providing both respite and convenience for his partner’s work.

Life took a sudden and devastating turn when Rick survived a severe car accident—broadsided by a Suburban while driving a small Escort. The impact left him with a ruptured spleen, broken ribs, and significant trauma. During his recovery, his staff were forced to move on, and Rick made the painful decision to close the shop he had worked so hard to build.

Once healed, he and his partner relocated to the Youngstown area, where new opportunities awaited. Rick went on to work in three salons, ultimately spending two decades in his final workplace before retiring. His retirement, however, was prompted not by age but by the growing challenges of diabetes—edema, neuropathy, and circulation issues that increasingly affected his mobility.

In 2016, Rick faced a life-altering diagnosis: gangrene in two toes. His left leg was amputated below the knee, and after seven years of fighting to save his right leg, a spreading infection made a second amputation necessary. Through every challenge, Rick’s resilience has remained unshaken. His goal—as he approaches his 75th year—is to walk again with two prosthetics and the support of his walker. Having already reclaimed mobility once, he faces this next chapter with determination, optimism, and the same steadfast spirit that has carried him through every stage of his life.