Foods of the Mediterranean

I am a HUGE foodie. Food is as important to me as life. It is sustenance, it is delicious, it is beautiful and the right foods can be emotional as well. I am an emotional cook. I put love into my food. I grew up in a big Italian American family learning from my Grandmother and my mom how to cook. So essentially, I grew up cooking and to me, it has become second nature.

While I am cooking I imagine the people I am feeding (myself included!) enjoying the outcome. For me food is an artistic expression of myself, a part of me that must come out! People marvel at how I can take a bunch of random ingredients and “create a masterpiece”!

Since food is such a part of my life, part of my culture and because I believe through food we can travel without leaving our homes, I decided I will have a recipe of the week. In this way, even if you don’t have a plane ticket to the Mediterranean, you can experience some of the flavors of the region. Because the ingredients can sometimes be unique and because spice pairings can be different from what we are used to, eating different foods can be journeys unto themselves.

(For more information and photos, please visit my Travel Blog: www.travelcloseup.com)