Welcome to My Food & Cooking Blog!

My friends know that I love to cook and I love to travel. Frequently one inspires the other. Recently Debra and I moved to Burbank. When we decided to move back to Southern California, we made a commitment to living more sustainably -- eating heathly, living close to jobs, eating out less, saving money, and spending less time in cars.

We've been pretty successful in our goals so far and I've really enjoyed shopping for fresh produce at the local farmer's market and cooking fresh foods at home. I love to cook, but we've downsized from the very large kitchen in Eugene, where we rarely cooked, to a very tiny kitchen in Burbank where I cook quite frequently.

I figured if I can do it, anybody can do it! And since all of my friends (especially my Facebook friends) know that I love to over-share... well, I've decided to start this food & cooking blog so I can share my love of food, cooking and the travel experiences that inspire both!

Pictured above: My kitchen in Burbank where I love to keep fresh herbs on hand -- like cilantro, parsley and basil -- as well as fresh citrus like lemons and limes. I use all of these ingredients frequently in my cooking.

I don't use cookbooks or recipes -- but I do love to watch the Food channel and read the food and cooking blogs of my friends -- some of which are listed on the right. I'll be adding more over time. I'd like to thank Michelle Fabio and Christina Denninghoff for inspiring me to start this blog. Christina and I went to high school together in Eugene, Oregon, and she lives with her family in Germany. It's been many, many moons since I visited Christina in Germany. Michelle I've never met -- or at least not in person. She's an expat living in Italy who inspires people like me to their own dreams with her wonderful blog. Thanks to the Internet, Blogs and Facebook, Michelle and Christina and just two of my global neighbors and friends.

One last thing: As an over-sharer, I love feedback and interaction with people who might be looking at my blog. So please feel free to post comments or ask questions -- or share your own inspirations and experiences!

Ham Salad & Tri-Color Bruschetta

A salad of romaine lettuce with diced ham and a medley of southwestern corn, black beans and red bell pepper with a dressing of Skywalker Ranch EVOO*, garlic and balsamic vinegar; served with toasted sourdough and tri-color tomato bruschetta. I added a little onion and cilantro to the bruschetta to give it a little pop.

We enjoyed this meal with a bottle of Castello Verrazzano Chianti Classico from Italy which we discovered during a trip to Tuscany in 2007.

I took this photo of a magnum size bottle during our visit to San Gimignano -- a beautiful little Tuscan hillside town.

*The Skywalker Ranch extra virgin olive oil was a gift from our friend Mary Lou Dudas who works at LucasFilm in San Francisco. It was a delicious bottle of olive oil -- great for making salad dressings.