It may be a while until Anthony Bourdain is going to notice my travelicious life and wants to join my journey just like I wouldn’t mind tagging along on a few of his culinary adventures, but until then, all I can say is DO NOT LOOK AT MY BLOG HUNGRY.
While posting pictures and sharing memories of the all the mostly wonderful meals I got to eat or cook may work for me as part of my hot momma makeover (since too many memories have made a lasting impression on the hips for now), this blog should make you hungry, but for more than just food. In the months or realistically years to come, I will document my favorite restaurants, must-try foods, the wonderful people that make them and the beautiful countries, cities, villages that contribute to the overall experience that is best summed up with #travelicious. If my stories and pictures can inspire you too, to take the road less travel, try something new and seek a more authentic experience than most of those going abroad will ever get (yes, am talking about the stupid tourist that lives in all of us) than I have succeeded. You may know that I travel for a living and have made it my mission at work to encourage our clients to step off the beaten path at least a little bit while they still get to check off all those must-sees major sites on their bucket lists, but I also realize that everyone is different, just like our interests and for many those European journeys we take them on are a once in a lifetime experience.
Being very fortunate to have the opportunity to go back again and again, and never having been a sightseer in the first place, I now more than ever seek for those minications within a work or family trip and the easiest way for me to “check-out” if only for an hour, hopefully a few, is with a great meal, ideally in a great place. And yes, that can be sitting on the bench next to the bratwurst truck on the market square in Weimar, Germany. Also at the rooftop “terrace” of a 12th Century Norman Tower on the Amalfi Coast, which is to date one of my all-time favorite seafood restaurants. A Castle in Ireland where a Gordon Ramsey student carries on the fine tradition of his outspoken teacher. Last, but not least, it is those glorious moments of having the chance to dine with the best of the best whether it is at a Michelin-star gourmet temple, a roadside dive-in, a stuffed mussel seller in Istanbul or the local favorite countryside restaurant that I will never mention here for the fear of someone like Rick Steve adding it to his guidebook for tourists and thus ruining it for the rest of us! So long story short, for the sake of this post and since there are many more to come: I LOVE TO EAT, I COOK, I TRAVEL and I do my best TO ENJOY LIFE with my family, friends and like-minded people.
Are you hungry for more? Then join me on my journeys and hopefully our paths will also cross one day soon!
p.s. What really inspired me to finally start this blog was the most expensive and at the same time worst meal of my life which should have been the best. I will try to keep my stories as positive as possible, but there is absolutely nothing good to say about a few places in this world, unless you are blind, ignorant and have no idea what good food is and the place synonymous for me with “getting royally ripped off” is: The Restaurant at Meadowood in Napa, California, USA. But more about that in another post…