There are three things that I am absolutely sure of: I am 26. I am single. I am working a thankless job. Having said that, there is one other thing that I am also sure of: I party. My weekends are almost always spent going to bars with friends, drinking bottomless mimosas at brunch and staining every dry clean only shirt I have with red liquid (I only drink whiskey so lord only knows how these stains come about). As little as 6th months ago the thought of staying in on a Friday or Saturday night was as foreign a concept to me as a hair brush is to the Olsen twins....but lately I have felt my age (and my bank account) catching up with me. I have started to realize that I need to spend more time relaxing, taking care of myself, and doing more "real" activities. Like activities that don't end in a lost credit card or a 2:30 am batch of easy mac. As part of my "goals" for 2013 (I stopped making new years resolutions after NYE of 2011 when I broke three of my five resolutions by 4:00 am on 1/1/2012) I have started to take time to think about things that I really and genuinely enjoy. Not things that I just enjoy because I have FOMO or because they involve booze, dancing, or other shenanigans, but interests that I could actually pursue in place of just going to the same bar every single night. In this journey of self discovery one thing has always reined supreme....FOOD. I've always been into food. Not in a "OMG! i'm so hungover I need some triscuits STAT!" type of way. In a really serious at times almost all consuming way. I love everything about food. I love to cook. I love trying out new restaurants. When I go on vacation I spend as much time planning out the places I will eat as I do the places I will sleep and the people I will see. I love everything from fois gras to Mcdonalds French fries. I will taste anything once but I'm not afraid to turn my nose up at food that I hate (uh hmm blue cheese? bye). I'm willing to drive 30 mins for an awesome breakfast burrito and I have made countless excuses for why I "have to go to Boulder" just so I can have a reason to get the lobster pot stickers at Japango or the pad se ew at Khow Thai. This obsession is totally a result of my upbringing. Everyone in my family is insanely into food. If you look at our families group text its mainly pictures of meals we have eaten or menus (with an occasional cat picture thrown in for good measure). Both of my parents are incredible cooks .I am fully convinced that both my San Antonio born ex-boyfriends only stayed with me because of my moms grilled cheeses and malts. My birthday parties are legendary not because of the open bar or my sunny personality, but because of my moms jalapeno cheddar mashed potatoes and my dads BBQ shrimp that are always laid out buffet style along with various other goodies. My road to become a full fledged foodie wasn't always easy. While I'm all for trashy supermarket food now ( bring on the lucky charms and easy mac) my mom would have rather huffed paint than ever serve us something that had "easy" or "helper" in the title. Being deprived of such a right of passage both alienated me (when I was in kindergarten I listed my favorite foods as "scallops and duck" and on my first play date I told my friends mom that the spaghetti o's she served me "smelled and looked like vomit") and also fueled my curiosity about such food. My first week of college I went to target and bought ramen, easy mac, a frozen dinner,and spaghetti O's for the first time. The result? pure happiness (besides the spaghetti O's...turns out out my five year old self was right, they are indeed disgusting) and a 27 lbs weight gain by the end of the year. But what didnt kill me (althought by all medical accounts it should have) made me stronger and I have now found a place for both ramen and easy mac in my heart along with short ribs and duck confit. While this obsession (paired with my single-ness and love of cats) could easily make me a social outcast I am very lucky to A. have friends who are *almost* as into food as I am B. live in a city known for it's amazing and innovative food scene. These two things make my obsession all the more easy to explore. So, this year In an effort to expand my horizons, I took my interest in food and filtered it into two projects: Worldly Wednesday and Cooking 1.0.1. I'll talk about these projects in greater detail later but the general idea is that cooking 1.0.1 involves me actually cooking food in my home (duh) and Worldly Wednesday involves going out to eat with friends. Both of these projects are currently in process and I have had an amazing time both planning them and putting them into action. Thru the course of this project(s) several of my friends have suggested I start a blog to document my adventures. I have to admit, I was very apprehensive at first. After years of writing nothing but research papers in college my voice is less than lyrical and my ADD brain isnt exactly the best at cutting to the chase. After some consideration (and a couple of cups of coffee) I decided that maybe it wasnt a half bad idea. I dont want to be a "blogger" nor do I really care if anyone even reads my posts. I cant promise that i will post in this thing 5 times a week or that I will even ever make another post after this one, but I admit there is something appealing about both having an outlet to express myself and having a way to document my (mis) happenings. I didnt want my blog (ugh I dont think I like that word) to only be about food because I do, believe it or not, have other interests, so thats why I decided to name it "bites, sites, and likes". I feel like that title creates a pretty big pool in terms of posts so I wont look like a total freak if I have one post about mac and chesse next to a post about the decimating bangle tiger population in Asia or the anger I feel over Lena Durham's granny panties in "GIRLS". So there you have it, folks. Stay tuned for pictures of chicken and waffles and vegan lollipops from last weekends adventure. Cheers!
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