Birmingham, Alabama
This is the place where I learned to be curious about dining out.
Long before I became a food and travel writer, Birmingham quietly changed my life.
I spent five years living in Montevallo while attending college, with countless days and nights in Birmingham and Homewood. During that season, I found myself on dates with a restaurant owner. Looking back, I realize I was masking in ways I didn't yet understand, trying to seem adventurous, confident, and open to new experiences.
Ironically, that mask introduced me to foods I never would have ordered on my own.
One unfamiliar dish became another. Then another.
Somewhere along the way, curiosity replaced fear.
Years later, after my autism diagnosis, so much of that journey finally made sense. Restaurants weren't just places to eat. They became classrooms. Every menu helped me understand another culture, another neighborhood, another story, and eventually myself.
The food blog came several years later.
The curiosity started here.
