Cook, Travel, Eat, Repeat

 

I have always considered blogs to be in the “nerd” realm…however I have often been accused of being a nerd, so perhaps I will fit right into this.

Let me preface the rest of this by saying There WILL be swearing, and there WILL probably be some rants:) Food and travel get me all riled up.

After college I developed a passion for travel and food. When I was younger, we went on trips and they were fun, but I don’t know if I actually appreciated traveling to the places we went and the food we ate on the way. Sure, I’ve always really liked eating and steaks, Big Macs, and Taco bell were great, but I didn’t really appreciate it…I just had it because it tasted good. Not because I had spent time finding a really cool place to eat, or because it had some really rare ingredient or cooking style, or because I was in a place I might never be again. I just didn’t think that way when I was younger. When I was  in my early 20s I was deployed to Bosnia for the Army. While I was over there I had a job that gave me a lot of flexibility to go out and be among the locals at the places they eat and drink. It was really my first experience of getting off the beaten path and trying things I wasn’t necessarily sure I would be comfortable with. Foods like burek and chorba…drinks like rakia (homemade fruit brandy) made in the basement of a local woman from Brcko. If I had to pick a time in my life where my love of food and travel really started, it was probably in Bosnia.

Guys like Anthony Bourdain are great. They are able to find the power in food and drink for bringing people together from all different backgrounds. If you ever want to find out about any culture, or any group of people…eat with them and eat what they eat. It is amazing how food can bring people together. The goal of this whole thing is to share the places I have been, things I have done, seen, tried, and most importantly the things I have had to eat and drink. At this point I have been to 18 countries (along with almost all the islands in the Caribbean) as well as 35 of the US states. I will be adding 2 or 3 more countries in January. I am hoping that by sharing these things, someone who takes a look at this will get the itch to try some of these things themselves. I am new to this whole blog thing and know absolutely nothing about how to format it, and as of so far, I don’t even know how to do anything other than this entry message I am currently typing. I went to college in Wisconsin, so that means there will be plenty of spelling, grammar, and punctuation errors on this page. Lots of pictures if I can figure out how to do that. My plan is to have a section where I will post recipes that I have either created myself, or stumbled across. I will have a section talking about some foods that people have always been afraid to try for one reason or another. Foods like bone marrow, foie gras, beef cheeks, sweetbreads, and pork belly…truly some of the most delicious foods this world has to offer. I will have a section that talks about places I have traveled, where to stay, things to do and see while you are there. That’s the plan for now…just gotta figure out the logistics on how to actually do any of it.

Check out the blog pages at the top!!!

Hope you enjoy!

Jon