25 Things You May Not Know About Me

I say ‘may’ because I ramble a lot about random food stories, experiences, and crazy happenings in my life (most pertaining to food) and I just can’t keep track of all the stuff that flows from my lips-er, fingers.  So, in the interest of highlighting a bit more about myself personally-the brain behind the blog, the writer behind the wit, and the cutie in the kitchen-I am responding to a few requests to hear more about me.  I would like to keep this blog about one consistent thing, my kitchen, my pantry, and the food I create for those I know and love.  But, just incase you are curious, read on.  I dare you.
1.  I have a deep dislike for water chestnuts.  Blegh.  Its a texture thing.  Eew.  Eew eew eew.

2.  I own a salad spinner but I never use it.  I have no idea why.  I guess I just prefer the ‘place your greens in a kitchen towel and whip them around the kitchen’ method.  And even though I HATE clutter or things in my kitchen that I don’t use, I can’t seem to part with it.  Go figure.

3.  The first Christmas after we were married, my husband I went sky diving together as our gift to each other.  He was stationed in Pearl Harbor, HI at the time and we drove up to the North Shore and jumped out of an airplane.  Best. Day. Ever.

4.  I am deathly afraid of heights.  No joke.  I inherited if from my Dad (who is even more terrified than me), if you can inherit that kind of thing.  And get this: he used to be a professional skydiver.  Again, no joke.  When we were kids, we would look at his trophies and ask him why he was a skydiver when he hated heights.  He would smile, making the corners of his blue eyes crinkle and reply, “I never liked planes so I would jump out of them when I could. ”  We would roll our eyes and chuckle, used to the fact that my father rarely gave a straight-or serious-answer.  To this day, I still have no idea what would posses him to do that.  Although, I don’t really know what possessed me to do it either.  Hmmm….

5.  I am a die hard Minnesotan.  I have this crazy, fierce pride for the state of my birth and always will.  No matter where I am living, MN is always better.  Hawaii is a close second…

6.  Birch trees are just cool.  I LOVE paintings and photographs of birch trees, but am SUPER picky about which ones I choose.  The real thing is even better but I haven’t figured out yet if planting birch trees down here in South Carolina is going to groove or not.  I am thinking, no.

7.  I prefer my cereal non-sugary.  Plain Cherrios, bran flakes, Wheaties, raisin bran, etc.  Nothing that turns my milk funny colors.

8.  2 % and whole milk=goooooood.  Skim milk=baaaaaaaaad.

9.  I once jumped out of a moving car to get a closer look at a street sign.  Obviously this was before Google Maps.

10.  I have had a fairly crazy string of odd jobs in my life, including (but not limited to) a farm hand, sous chef, dessert cook, shoe unpacker at Kmart, front desk gal at an attorneys office, realtors assistant, synchronized swimming coach, substitute teacher, babysitter, an intern with Aloha State Games, librarian assistant, plant planter at a nursery, sandwich artist at Subway, busser of tables, a slew of other office jobs, catering, and I spent one year of college recording textbooks on audio for blind students.

11.  I’m loyal.

12.  I love to read.  Like LOVE to read.  I would rather read than sleep.  I love the look, feel, and smell of books and firmly believe that you can never have too many.  It may come as no surprise to you that my Minor is in American Literature.  In addition, I collect cookbooks.  I’m not picky when it comes to the written word.

13.  I have always loved to bake and cook.  When I was a kid, and making dinner for the family, I would pretend I had an audience and talk and demonstrate my way through it as though part of my own cooking show.  Back then, the only cooking shows that I knew were that of Jacque Pepin, Julia Child, and Jeff Smith; three no nonsense types of chefs.  Actually, come to think of it, I think Jeff Smith’s cookbook The Frugal Gourmet was the first cookbook I ever owned.
14.  I ended up marrying the guy I had a crush on all through high school.  Turns out, he had a crush on me too and we never told each other.  🙂
15.  I would love to make a living as a writer-with or without the food part.  Preferably with the food.

16.  I can sing.  I don’t like to sing in front of people much, but if I am being honest here (and this is a safe place to share…) I am actually quite good.

17.  I love to quilt.  Not the piecing and sewing part, but the tiny stitches that you finish off the quilt with.  I could sit and do that for hours.  Cross stitch?  Not so much…

18.  I am independent to a fault.  Bless my husband for his patience.  As we all are, I am a work in progress.

19.  I’m short.  Not that this is a big thing, but if you ever meet me in person, I thought I should mention it.

20.  If I were a character on Friends, I am thinking I would fall somewhere between Ross and Monica in personality.  With maybe a little Chandler thrown in.  I am the polar opposite of Rachel.

21.  I was a diver in High School and still carry the scars from when I hit my face on the board when I was 16.

22.  I was an active member of a co-ed service fraternity in college.  What up, Alpha Phi Omega alum!!

23.  One year, I had Christmas dinner in a US Submarine.  And it was really good.

24.  I don’t drink pop.

25.  I’m a God girl and Jesus follower of the happiest order!

Thanks so much for reading!