November of this year will mark the 2 year anniversary of my (and my wife's) move to the Los Angeles area. While my reasons for wanting to move to LA were numerous (none of which involved Hollywood or any of that socialite crap that dominaes the news here), there is one unexpected, and much appreciated "perk" to living here that I totally overlooked on my "pros for LA" list...Food Diversity!
SoCal weather is amazing, the beaches endless, and the car culture stronger than any other place in the world. However, the thing that I appreciate the most day in and day out here in SoCal is the food and how diverse the selection is. There definitely is no shortage of great restaurants here and that can be both a blessing and a curse. It's a blessing because you can have just about anything your heart desires, but a curse because you can only pick one place out of the long list of greats. That long list only complicates the decision making process....especially for two indecisive people like my wife and I.
A prime example of how good we have it here in SoCal is the japanese food. In most other cities there are just "Japanese" restaurants that usually serve Sushi and some of the other more generic Japanese dishes. Here in SoCal I can go to Torrance and have a selection of different types of Japanese restaurants. There's Sushi, Yakitori, Yakiniku, Shabu Shabu, Okonomiyaki, Etc. Then there's Japanese style of other foods. Japanese style italian, Japanese style western, Japanese style Korean Barbecue, and the list goes on and on...all of which have restaurants dedicated to that specific style of food. Don't think you'll find that anywhere else in the world outside of Japan. Amazing.
Of course, being a native East Coaster I do have one major gastronomical complaint with SoCal. That would be the lack of decent East Coast eats. New York Pizza, Philly Cheesesteaks, Buffalo Wings and stuff like that are not well represented in Cali. There are places that CLAIM they make an "authentic" NY slice of pizza, or an "authentic" Philadelphia style cheesesteak, but in all honesty...they're not even close. Not sure why either. The foods seem simple enough that it shouldn't be too hard to replicate them here in Cali, but to date no one has done it successfully. Must be something in the water...
Monday, July 23, 2007
Food, food EVERYWHERE!
Thursday, July 19, 2007
ANOTHER food blog?!
It's true...the internet is swamped with food blogs of all shapes and sizes. Some written by trained chefs and authorities on the subject while others are authored by people that are merely passionate about food and the pleasures gained from eating said food. To which of these groups do I fall into?
Well, I definitely am not a formally trained chef, nor would I consider myself an authority on food or eating by any means. I do, however have 30 plus years of experience in pleasing my taste buds so I guess that puts me in the latter of the two aformentioned groups. Also, I pretty much need to feed what seems like every hour, on the hour so within those 30 plus years of "experience" I have definitely racked up quite a number of meals. Hopefully that earns me a little bit of credibility on the subject.
So how is this blog going to differ from other food blogs? Who knows?! I just wanted to share my thoughts and insights on the pleasures that come from eating and enjoying different kinds of foods with the rest of the world (or at least anyone willing to read this). I plan on posting about various memorable meals i've had in the past and any notable meals (both good and bad) I may have in the future, from whatever city, in whatever country I may find myself.
What can you expect from me in the future? Well, one thing you can be sure i'm NOT going to do is rate meals on some kind of numbering scale. I think numbered ratings for foods and restaurants are kind of ridiculous. When it comes to a meal, there are just way too many variables that can affect your opinion of that meal. For example, my level of hunger can definitely influence how much I enjoy the food that is presented to me. Extreme hunger can make even the crappiest food taste like heaven. Instead, I'm going to simply give my honest, in the moment, thoughts and impressions of the food experience. Hopefully that will be enough.
What kinds of foods and restaurants can you expect to see on here? Well, I'll try just about anything at least once so nothing is out of bounds. If I can get my grubby little hands onto it(and I LOVE eating with my hands!), it will most likely end up on here sometime. I'll do fine dining and "gourmet" restaurants, but I equally love eating at total dumps. In fact, some of my most enjoyable meals have come from places that would most likely get shut down by a food inspector visit so to say that i'm "adventurous" may be an understatement by some people's standards. Finally, I plan on sharing some good recipes of foods I love that i've come across over the years so stay tuned! There's more to come!
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
What's in a name?
I sat here in front of my laptop for quite a while brainstorming for name ideas for my food related blog. I wanted a name that was appropriate to the topic at hand (food and eating) as well as something that related to me directly. I also wanted a name with a little bit of humor built in and something that was catchy and easy to remember. After sitting here thinking about it for what felt like an eternity, it finally dawned on me! Foodie Monster!
"Why Foodie Monster?" you may ask. Well, I think the "foodie" part is obvious. I'm definitely a foodie to the core. I don't eat solely as a means of sustinance...I eat for the sheer pleasure of the experience! I don't eat to live, I live to eat. I truly think that one of the finest, simplest pleasures in life is a good meal. And by good meal, I mean a meal that sings lullabies to your soul through your taste buds.
As for the "Monster" part...well, I kinda got that from my wife. You see, when I eat I have a propensity for eating with extreme brevity. In other words, I eat my meals really fast and that's the way I like it. I'm pretty sure if you went around and polled my friends to see who the "fastest" eater they knew was, it'd probably be me (not that that's something to be proud of). In addition, I have a tendency to eat mass quantities of food as well. I swear I think i'm missing the part of my brain that receives the "stomach is full" signal and instructs the body to stop eating. Or, maybe i'm not missing it...i've just learned to supress it due to my penchant for good food. Now, during many of the meals that I have shared with my wife I've heard her say, "You're a MONSTER!" in reference to my fast and plentiful eating. So, I thought that would be a perfect complement to the "foodie" term. Foodie Monster! Short, appropiate, and to the point. Perfect!
