Hello World!!! My name is McKenzie N-W and I was born and raised in Los Angeles, California. I grew up around the West LA, Mid-City, and Baldwin Hills/Windsor Hills and surrounding areas.  Living in Los Angeles, exposed to me a variety of cultures and cuisines that are fascinating in their own right.  My grandmother is cropped-11griffith1-600.jpgfrom Georgia so first love will always be Southern cuisine, but being from Los Angeles, I am just as connected with Mexican cuisine and flavors, and seafood!  I believe avocado or guacamole can go on almost anything but that is a different story. But in an odd twist of my taste buds, something about most Asian flavors, such as Chinese, Japanese, Thai, and Korean, excites me.  The mixing and blending of flavors is even more awesome.  Meaning, you can very well make a Korean BBQ taco and add Salsa Verde, add avocado and cojita cheese with a side of lobster mac and cheese and I would have been in food heaven.  I will explain that later.

Anyway, I fell in love with cooking and food at a very early age.  I cannot remember exactly when but I have always loved to eat.  My family would host a lot of parties and BBQs (given the great LA weather) and something about people coming together to enjoy a meal and socialize excites me.  As a child, I was fascinated by the process of seasoning the meat how it would change colors based on the seasonings applied.  My Holy Trinity for cooking includes Garlic Salt, Seasoning Salt, and Black Pepper (and sometimes Original Mrs. Dash).  I remember wanting to master the art of seasoning because salty food is quite unpleasant and if it isn’t seasoned enough, it is bland and just as unpleasant.  So in my eyes, it was a fine art that I wanted to master. Poor seasoning can destroy an entire meal! Lets be honest!

I began cooking somewhere between the age of 8 or 9 making really simple stuff that wouldn’t burn the house down.  I also began watching the Food Network religiously becoming of fan of such shows starring Emeril Lagasse, Rachel Ray, Giada De Laurentiis, Bobby Flay, Summer Anderson, and Paula Dean.  I began to pick up on cooking techniques and common trends among the cooks and chefs that seemed to be pretty universal regardless of the style of food being prepared.  I also enjoyed understanding how foods were made or mass produced on the Unwrapped show.  As I got older, I got more experienced and ventured into making and mastering different dishes and desserts.  I absolutely love to cook and find peace in my kitchen. Since turning 25, I have changed my eating habits to more healthier meals with low carbs options. I am in the process of losing weight so I needed to find a way to enjoy food and eat properly. It is a process and a daily struggle but 43 pounds lost so far, I think I’m getting the hang of it. Don’t get it twisted though, I still love a good meal….just in moderation.

Growing up, my mother bought this wonderful home in the Mid-City LA area and it took
about 6 longdownload months to renovate the kitchen.  Once completed, we had a nice sized kitchen with state-of-the-art appliances that I had at my disposal for cooking and experimenting.  Luckily, I have never had a fire while cooking but there have been some pretty close calls.  My mother was not a fan of cooking after working a long hours to take care of she and I. Therefore, if I wanted to eat, I had to cook more often than not or get take-out.  Thus began love for eating out and the take out experience.

cropped-baltimore_inner_harbor_maryland.jpgI am a 25 year-old single business professional currently living in Baltimore, Maryland (another seafood haven).  I spend a lot of time on the road all around Maryland, DC, sometimes Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and New York for work and for fun.  I am constantly on the look out for what is hot and happening in the food world.  I have joined the food truck movement in the city of Baltimore and DC, which I share with you in later blogs.  But I wanted to introduce myself to you all but more importantly stress that the focus of this blog is FOOD! Not me taking pictures eating it.  Understand something, I LOVE FOOD! I love cooking it, eating it, ordering take out! Its one of the few pleasures of the day. I light up when talking about it, I can describe a meal or experience that would excite you to partake in your own experience. And considering how stressing life can be, families can be, work pressures can be, how amazing is it to unite people together for something that generally can bring happiness to others. Some family members have discouraged me from enjoying something I am so passionate about. But at the end of the day, food makes me happy.

Follow me as I experience new restaurants everywhere I go and share my experiences with you.  My stories may make you laugh or interest you into having the dining experience of your own but most of all, I look forward to sharing what I am most passionate about. I do not discriminate food as it relates to cost. Some restaurants may be more expensive than others but I’m here to help you decide if the cost is worth it.   Most of the pictures I will share will be the location of the subject restaurant and the meal ordered.  I take the ultimate pleasure trying new places and sharing them with others.  Enjoy! And remember: It’s a BIG world and we are going to eat our way through it!

*Please read onto the next article to learn the rating scale and general format of blogs going forward. Thank you for reading!

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