CURRENT MISSION

To wake up one day with my face covered in takoyaki. And my stomach.

ABOUT ME

I'm just a small town boy, trying to eat everything. My goal in life is to become a food and travel writer. And coffee, coffee is also a goal. I once bathed in coffee, and that was quite the experience. I'm relatively introverted and I get nervous easily, but I love risks and challenges, so I push myself constantly to try new things, even if I pee my pants doing them. I think people describe me as insightful, and I'd certainly describe myself as sarcastic, but only in a playful way.

I grew up in the suburban South in North Carolina, and when I learned to drive by cruising to the local dairy farm creamery every sunday. I went to college in Los Angeles, and majored in East Asian Area Studies. I love being able to expand my horizons and see what the rest of the world is like, and my one semester living in Tokyo as a student completely changed my life. After JET, I want to travel around my own country, and then live in other countries around the world.

Mostly eating. I want to get paid to eat.

I'm a crap cook, but I've been baking for years, and I can't help but make things for the people I know.

PHILOSOPHY

"If no one ever took risks, Michelangelo would have painted the Sistine Floor."

"We'll cross that bridge when we come to it."

"Let [they] who [are] without sin cast the first stone."

I have to run headfirst into the wall three times before I find the door, but once I find it, I'll never lose it.

Interests

Food, food history, food politics, coffee, pastry, pastry science; art, art history, photography; travel, tourism; yoga, pilates, hiking, mountains, beaches; history, culture, psychology, religion, mythology

• arts
• culture
• writing
• books
• photography
• dining
• cooking
• coffee
• baking
• yoga
• pilates
• running
• politics
• traveling
• blogging
• hiking
• area studies
• art history
• communications
• history
• psychology
• religion
• science
• tourism
• beaches
• mountains

Music, Movies, and Books

Movies: Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Rent, Kings of Summer, Mean Girls

TV: Buffy the Vampire slayer, Community, Being Human [US], Misfits, Supernatural, Once Upon a Time

Books: Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, and Through the Looking Glass; Uncommon Grounds; Geek Love; Cheese Monkeys; The Ocean at the End of the Lane; American Gods

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

I got a hickey from a manta ray in Antigua.

I helped plant 500 trees in southern Ireland as part of a reforestation effort.

I almost passed out in a Navajo sweat lodge in Utah.

I watched the sun rise from the peak of Mt. Fuji. Then promptly rolled back down the mountain.

I landed a bakery internship by showing my blog to a bakery owner in Durham, NC.

Teach, Learn, Share

Learning: any book about food, even if it's a book about the history of salt, and I will devour it like I devour curry udon every weekend. I'm a self-taught baker since August 2008, and a blogger. I'm currently learning how to travel, teach English, and write. I know a little something about Asia. But only a little something.

Teach: I like helping people learn to bake, and learning with them as a result. I've had social media jobs and like to help people figure out different social media networks. And naturally, I want to help people enjoy food. Meaning, I want to help them eat their food. Meaning, i want to eat their food.