Hi

Well, here I am. At last.  In my attempt to get past what I've always called "permanent writer's block", I've finally decided to just put myself out there and join the others who are sharing their thoughts on life and the food that drives it. I like to tell stories and most of these stories somehow always seem to involve food. Not surprising, considering how often we eat, some of us more than others. I love food. I love making it, ordering it in restaurants, looking at it, eating it, reading about it, talking about it and now hopefully, I will love writing about it. In time, I hope to be able to sort out this blogging business and post pictures, but for now a few introductory words will have to do. 

I was born in southwest Germany and moved to the U.S. with my family when I was five.  That was in 1965 and the only thing I remember bringing with me in my little gray suitcase was a bar of German chocolate, a  gift for my father, who was already in the States and was picking us up at the airport on his birthday.  Had I known that I wouldn't be able to find chocolate like that in the U.S. for at least the next ten years I might have held on to it myself. I've had a pretty intense love affair with chocolate my whole life. Every year at Christmas and Easter we would get packages from our relatives in Germany. The only thing I remember about any of them is that they contained chocolate and my Oma's Christmas package, a large box of her hazelnut macroons. But I'm getting ahead of myself here. They don't have a bit of chocolate in them and in any case, you'll have to wait for the holiday season before I would even consider sharing the recipe. 

The trajectory of my life briefly summarized (limited to places I've lived):

Reutlingen, West Germany (chocolate and soft pretzles) > Stamford, Connecticut (Coca Cola and Jewish rye) > Greenville, South Carolina (Wonderbread, Chef Boyardee, Little Debbies and tuna casserole) > Clemson University (ramen noodles, pizza, and the grapefruit diet) >Reutlingen, West Germany (Oma's cooking) >  Clemson (tofu and carob) > Duke University (wine and cheese and Tasajara Cooking) > Berlin (Greek food and Rote Grütze) >Durham, North Carolina (BBQ and brown rice) > Shandong, China (boiled dumplings and deep-fried cicadas) > Durham (gourmet food) > Shandong, China (cabbage and steamed bread) > Taipei, Taiwan (fresh fruit and Buddhist buffets) > Clemson (homemade Chinese) > Durham (a constant, ever-changing parade of food)