About me
It took me 36 years to make my way to CA, but I'm hopefully here for life! Post college I've lived on the east coast (NY, PA and DE), in Memphis, TN, Chicago and now outside of San Francisco. I miss my friends, the chaos and whackiness of the east coast, but love just about everything else from the west coast.
My husband is also a transplanted east coaster. I'm the foodie and love wine, he wants a restaurant with a great sunset and is happy with beer. We're the perfect complement! We have twin girls who are toddlers - which put a damper on our completely spontaneous life of travel and fun...but we're loving every minute of our new life.
Cooking Influences
I grew up in Altooona, PA. The best restaurant was a little Italien joint that I thought was fancy because they had white tablecloths and I could order shrimp cocktail! The next best place was probably Denny's. However, I should mention that if you are ever in Altoona, check out the best pizza - ever...from Dino's (they're in the mall...everyone knows where the mall is!).
Luckily my parents believed in exposing us to good food and fine dining, so as kids we often piled into the wood panelled (I'm not lying) station wagon and we went to Pittsburgh or State College for a real restaurant meal - although - ethnic influences were rare. My dad loved to eat...in fact, he really lived to eat, and my mom pretty much cooked every night - but meat and potatos were the main meal in our home. Plus, she was/is a great baker and we had amazing pies and great cookies all the time.
So, even with my father's love of food, I had a slow start to the foodie that I've become. It wasn't until I moved to Chicago (after a stint in Philadelphia for college, and then Memphis, TN for work) that I really found out about food. All of a sudden I had amazing Thai, fantastic Mexican, fun Tapas and much more to experience. Aruns in Chicago changed the way I think about Thai food, and Frontera Grill did the same for me regarding Mexican. Next I moved to New York...and the rest is history!
United States Chef
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May 2, 2008Hi Adrienne. Welcome to CookEatShare. Can't wait to see a photo and some of your great recipes. Don't be so humble!
