Because the "About Me" is limited to 1200 characters...

Here's a little background on my background, why I'm starting this blog, and what you can expect to find here:

My red hair, freckles, and petite frame belie my rich Italian heritage and consequent deeply-entrenched love of food. I grew up eating delicious home-cooked meals every single night with my family at the dining room table. I wasn’t admonished with “don’t chew with your mouth open” or “that’s not the way you hold your fork,” but with lessons in wine pairing and thoughtful analysis in whether the sauce had enough salt.

Just like most kids, I thought I was like everyone else. I thought everyone grew up eating Pecorino Romano. I thought most parents kept gardens and jarred their own tomatoes so you could have fresh spaghetti sauce in the dead of winter. I thought only the bad moms bought cereal with artificial coloring and Pop Tarts with frosting for their kids. It baffled me greatly that someone would be so bold as to eat more than two cookies in one sitting—wasn’t “two cookies after you finish your veggies” a universal rule?

Well, eventually reality hit. I tasted Lucky Charms, boxed brownies, and jarred tomato sauce. I learned how difficult it can be to eat fresh foods and to prepare healthy enjoyable meals. I now fully appreciate the way I was raised, even if it set the bar (unrealistically?) high.

Now in my early twenties, I’m living in a city with the world’s most diverse offering of food choices. Having Turkish, Italian, Afghan, French, Mexican, Chinese, and Japanese restaurants all within a 20 ft radius of my apartment has been both exhilarating and overwhelming. I want to try everything and anything. I pick up delivery menus and dawdle outside of alluring restaurant windows every few steps I take.

While I’m deeply grateful to be in such a wonderfully diverse area, city living isn’t always easy. I have had to adapt my eating habits to a hectic schedule, a tiny kitchen, a lean grocery budget, and a vegetarian boyfriend. This, I know, doesn't make me unique among my fellow New Yorkers—I think that description fits one out of every three.

Since I've been assigned to keep a blog for class, I'm going to use the opportunity to share my experiences of eating in the Big Apple with a little wallet. Though this blog is aimed primarily towards "young New Yorkers unwilling to sacrifice the quality of their gastronomic experiences due to a limited budget," hopefully the subject(s) of my posts also have a broader appeal. Comments and suggestions are always welcome. Happy reading!