It sounds cliched to say that I love food, because a lot of people say that. But it's a fact that many people don't know about me, nor do many people know the depth of my love for food. In fact, even I didn't know how much I loved food until the past couple of years.
I love every part of food; where it's grown, how it's sold and marketed, shopping for food, how it can be prepared, ingredient swaps, searching and trying new recipes and ingredients, going out to local spots in different cities, planning travels around food I want to try. If you visited my house, and looked through my TV history, you'd mostly see comedies and food/cooking shows listed.
I think this love stemmed from my late father. He loved to eat and would risk anything and everything for good food. If he had $5 to his name, he would spend $4.99 on a meal he wanted to enjoy. Whenever we went to a new restaurant or traveled out of town/state/country on cruises, he would be more than glad to try something new or different or exotic. As I grew older, he became my food buddy; someone I knew I could talk about new recipes with, watching cooking shows with, and try new spots to eat. He passed away April 28, 2019 and I've found that, whenever I start to feel really sad about his death, I gravitate toward our favorite love; cooking and eating.
When I moved out of Orlando following graduation and into my first solo apartment (with no roommates) in 2014 and began to work full-time as a news reporter, I think that was when my love of food was really watered. Living in The Villages, Florida (a retirement community in northeastern Central Florida), I was isolated from many of my friends and family and also lived in a town not designed for a young, ethnic millennial (everything was catered to older, white, financially stabled adults). So, often times, when the work day ended, I just went home and watched TV. And I gravitated toward Food Network (Cutthroat Kitchen became my favorite show). And after awhile, I began wanting to cook food to eat while I watched other people cook food. And my love for food and cooking began to grow.
After I moved back to Orlando in 2017, I moved in with a roommate, but found myself still spending most of my time in the kitchen. But my cooking changed as I hired a personal trainer and began working to improve my health and learning how to make food my medicine and weapon against bad health. I lost 20 pounds, cut my body fat in half and gained solid muscle through working out, but mainly through changing my approach to food.
Now, the struggle comes into play; I still love food, but I also try to maintain as healthy as possible a regular eating regiment as I can (I don't like to say "diet" at all). And many people ask me about how I eat healthy without growing bored, as well as places I'd recommend to eat when friends and family want to go out. These are questions that I get all the time...and even more know, as people often ask me "Have you tried this place?" "Have you tried this restaurant's new menu item?" "Have you made this yet?"
Which led me to start this website. This website will give you a little bit of everything that people normally ask, plus some. Think of it as a Thanksgiving feast of all things food related in my world. I'll share recipes that I've tried, tips and ideas for healthy eating, recommend restaurants...who knows, I may even start offering to cook meals for people to take to lunch with them too.
Just know that everything on this website will be related to my great love of food in some way, and I hope that it also helps you in your food journey.
We About the Love of Food ... and it's time to dig in!
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