CURRENT MISSION

To travel around the world ... meeting new people, seeing new places, going to as many bakeries as I can and stealing - umm I mean learning their best recipes!

ABOUT ME

I'm a pastry chef & I've run my own business for the past 5 years. Anyone else who owns their own business knows that it is great & super fun ... especially if you like working all the time with no help & never paying yourself! I'm American but I've been told since starting my travels that I sound like a Canadian ... which is fine with me. This is probably because I live in the Upper Penninsula of Michigan (the UP) which damn near might as well be Canada! For those of you "in the know" this means that I am a true Yooper.

I'm pretty much interested in anything that has to do with food ... except for everything to do with onions (allergic!). Which is another reason why I am a pastry chef & not a chef chef. I have always wanted to travel & so now I finally took the jump and am doing it!!

Other than that I really hate these questions ... I feel like saying, "Well just meet me and then you will find out who I am." But I realize that would be counterproductive, obviously you would like to know something about a person before you invite them into your home. Sufficed to say that I am a good, nice person that will not take advantage of your hospitality or try to steal your stuff ... if that's a concern for you?

Oh by the way - the name, I know ... don't be intimidated by my last name. It's really not as scary as it looks!

PHILOSOPHY

I guess you could say that I do believe in some kind of universal pull. That the places you go to, the people you meet & when those things happen - all happen to you for a reason & at the time that they are supposed to. You might not realize it in the moment but often looking back you will be like, "Oh that's why that trip I wanted to take fell thru, because I was supposed to go now instead so that I could meet this person or have this experience."

Other than that my travel philosophy now is to just save enough money to get back home & figure out the rest as I go along.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

So far I've only had one "proper" couchsurfing experience, but it was amazing! I met the sweetest guy & his wonderful roommates - they made me feel at home as soon as I walked in the door. What was only supposed to be 3 days turned into a week & I had the best time. Hopefully every experience will be like that!

Before that I had relied on the kindness of strangers. I have had some pretty good luck with meeting random people on my travels that have been nice enough to invite me home with them when I had nowhere else to stay. One turned out to be a little bit sketchy but it worked out fine in the end & it makes for a good story.

Interests

Pretty much anything food related ... eating food, cooking food, watching tv/movies about food, reading cookbooks, going to farmer's markets ... anything really. Plus all the normal crap that people say: meeting new people, going new places, learning about different cultures, just hanging out with friends ... all that stuff is great too.

• arts
• dining
• cooking
• recipes
• baking
• running
• movies
• reading
• tv
• traveling
• business
• tourism

Music, Movies, and Books

Everything ... anything ... I am pretty opened minded.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Just finally getting on the plane to come to Europe was pretty amazing! I didn't actually think it would ever happen ... but here I am!

Everything I've seen so far has been amazing: Vigeland Sculpture installation in Oslo, Giant's Causeway in Ireland, Magnum ice cream bars with Champagne in them ... all amazing!

visited 9 states (4%)Create your own visited map of The World or Triposo world travel guide for Android

Teach, Learn, Share

Willing to teach baking or cooking. The art of sarcasm ... very hard to learn! How to price compare to get the best value or deal ... there is a difference between being cheap & being frugal.

Willing it learn anything I don't already know ... or how to do something a better way.

Countries I’ve Visited

Canada, France, Ireland, Morocco, Norway, Portugal, Spain, United Kingdom, United States

Countries I’ve Lived In

France, Morocco, Portugal, Spain, United Kingdom, United States