My family wasn’t well off when I was little. We had a big garden and several relatives who were farming, so much of what we ate was home-grown as well as home-cooked. I wasn’t a very adventurous eater. I remember turning up my nose at a lot of things, especially vegetables, probably because my mother subscribed to the "boil it until it’s limp and flavorless" school of vegetable cookery. It was pretty basic meat, potatoes and one vegetable kind of stuff. I do remember going out once in awhile, though, almost always to a Friday night fish-fry.

When my sister was in college and living at home she started expanding our repertoire with things like lasagna and tacos. They seem pretty tame now but they were exotic to us then. My own college-era repertoire consisted pretty much of macaroni and cheese with the occasional fish sandwich from Mickey D’s, because I never had any money.

When I got my first library job (and had a little grocery money!) I started reading my way through the cookbook section and trying out new things. I just got more and more adventurous through the years. As more ethnic, gourmet and/or organic ingredients became available in the local stores, I’d experiment with them.

A few years ago I started a little club with some friends. We go out for a leisurely meal and drinks once a month and try out as many new restaurants as we can, although we also have a list of old favorites that we’ll go back to now and again. We’ve driven up to two hours one-way to go to a restaurant we’ve heard about. I also try to hit as many Roadfood sites as I can when I take a vacation.