For the past 15 months, I’ve taken charge of my health through lifestyle choices. 80ofoods I used to rely on and love are gone, and it’s been way harder than I pictured. It’s the reason I no longer maniacally post my recipes and thoughts on here; I’ve sadly neglected my beloved and much-asked-about little corner […]

Olives snuggled together remind me of the roundest animal scales or tiny picturesque ruffled mountains and hills. You see them at the specialty store in their little bins, with their confetti flecks of spices and seasonings oilily clinging to them. You see them in the condiment aisle, fat or miniature but always bursty and filled […]

There is a certain time of year we all long for, the one that makes us feel most alive and connected to each other. Doesn’t it always sneak up on us like a cat creeping around the corner? Summer lazily morphs into October, which overflows into November and then poof, it’s Thanksgiving, and then a […]

Prior to my Italian departure, my brain was under the assumption my staple foods existed in wide availability. Hello… it’s Italy, the all-around Gods of the food universe must have everything. (Insert “wrong” game show sound) Wrong. Much to my chagrin, I was unpleasantly surprised to discover Italians do not eat peanut butter. Or almond […]

For a large part of my life, I was a non-chicken-wing-eater. All chicken with bones, for that matter, actually. It felt barbaric to me for some reason. I was always the type of child who requested breast meat, dry, and it had to be all white. I used to have my roommate touch raw chicken […]

After countless explanations and viewing “pleasure”, I still do not understand or enjoy football. I’ve tried. I’ve given it a chance. But it does not float my boat. I remember, on my way to my first Gator Football game, asking my football infatuated best friend how the game was played and her subsequent look of […]