Two things I wanted you to be the first to know.

It’s been three years since I was last in Europe. One since I saw my best friend in NOLA. And one since we last visited our family in the South. There was a time in my life where this would have felt like a lot of travel but I (like many of you) have spent the last few years grounded at home. While that’s not a bad thing, I’ve certainly missed - frankly - eating other places.

Travel meals, or meals you eat other places, tend to stick out. The baguette with “shoe leather” meat in Paris. The steak at the all-mens club that I accidentally crashed in Rouen. The decanter of red wine in Sienna that forever changed my palette. The beignets at Cafe du Monde with Angela. The limoncello from Cinque Terre.

These are moments of exploration.