Hello, My Name is: Jamie

So this is it... My first blog. Or at least, the first one intended for public viewing. Hopefully I can manage to introduce myself without boring everyone to death.

I attended Northwestern University and, after a horrible attempt at being an engineering major and a mind-clearing summer study abroad trip to Thailand, ended up graduating from the Medill School of Journalism with a journalism and Asian studies degree. After that, I decided I liked Northwestern so much that I just couldn't leave... So I stayed on for another year and a half and earned my masters degree in magazine publishing with a concentration on business reporting. Exciting, huh? Well, just wait, it gets better, I promise.

While in graduate school, I took a summer off and decided to travel the world. I started off in Costa Rica, worked my way North through Central America, then dropped into Ecuador, the Galapagos and Peru. After a horrible trans-Atlantic flight via Chile, I ended up in Barcelona in an apartment without any luggage. So, with the clothes on my back and my camera that I had carried on, I started exploring and rebuilding my travel wardrobe. After a month exploring Europe by train with no pre-determined itinerary (I'm sure my parents loved that!), I settled into Paris for two weeks of journalism seminars. Then, it was off to Delhi where I worked as a copy editor for three months at India Today, a national weekly news magazine. A few stops later, I was home from my six-month foreign escapade, graduated and looking for work.

I landed outside of Cleveland where I bought a condo and put my nose to the grindstone helping to launch Club & Resort Business, a monthly trade magazine covering the country club and golf resort industry. Well, after nearly a year and a half, I decided that my heart wasn't in Cleveland and it was time to move on to my next adventure: culinary school.

I picked up, moved to New York City, re-entered the rental life and enrolled in the full time culinary program at The Institute of Culinary Education. To finish my graduation requirements I interned at Food & Wine and have since been freelancing in the Big Apple.

That gets you to where I am now. So come along with me on this journey as I figure out this whole blogging thing and establish myself in New York's food writing community. Comments, criticisms and tips are very much appreciated. Don't be shy!