welcome.

A slight glance at the headlines or five minutes of Anderson Cooper, dapper as he may be when he delivers gloom and doom,  is enough to sink anyone into a deep state of depression. Failed economic bailouts, record unemployment, devastating fires in California and the public’s fascination with the latest Lindsay Lohan rehab stint could make anyone want to burrow in their bedsheets for a few months.

But if you are like me, all is right in the world (at least for an hour or two) when I’m sitting down with family or friends, eating a really good meal. Now “really good” doesn’t always equate “upscale”; some of the best meals I have ever had have also been the most random and casual. Some have been literally in my own backyard and some have been an ocean away. All have been an adventure in one way or another.

When I travel, I plan my trip around restaurants. There is something about researching endlessly to find one of the very best places you can eat in a city/town, then actually getting there and trying the food that is immensely satisfying to me. And that is exactly how I discover every new place I live too—with my fork.

So that is what this blog is about—my love of food and where it takes me, whether it be my kitchen, the diner across the street, Kansas City or the coasts. As a native Midwesterner, I have spent a lot of time exploring the culinary landscape of Eastern Nebraska (oh yes, there is one), Kansas City/Lawrence, KS, and now, my new home, Jefferson City, MO (let’s throw Columbia and St. Louis in there too). I will be writing about all my local restaurant escapades and my trips to KC and St. Louis, as well as the places I go when I travel. But let’s face it, times are tough and the frequent flier miles aren’t adding up like they used to; local, sustainable food is where it’s at, and there’s plenty good to talk about in the 200-mile radius of the Capitol City.