Who is this person who writes her opinion about restaurants? Well… My name is Nicola and I live in the greenest blue state, Washington. Although Washington is my home, I’m a navy brat and have lived in many parts of the United States including Texas, Wisconsin, Illinois, Maryland, and Florida.

I’m no Anthony Bourdain but I love his show nonetheless. I would love to travel the world and eat their local food however there is a larger list of foods I don’t eat and small, bite-sized list of foods I would eat. I’m allergic to pig so my delight in all things porcine must come in small doses less I suffer a nasty-acid refluxed, drowsy day. Mostly, I only munch on chicken, beef, turkey, Cornish-game hens, salmon, tuna, and cod. I’ll eat other cooked fishes if it seems appetizing enough and that is a huge leap out of the food comfort zone I built as a kid. I love veggies except for eggplant. I love fruit except for olives. I don’t eat fungus. I won’t put a mushroom anywhere near my mouth and although my mom tried for years to hide mushrooms in my food, I can spot a mushroom piece the size of a pin head in any dish and will pick it out, sift my food, until I am satisfied that my dish is mushroom free. Yes, I am that finicky. I hate Thai food. I’m sorry Thai folks. Really, their food smells good but considering I don’t like peanuts, sesame, soy sauce, pork, and this crazy spice that is used which makes my mucous glands go crazy, I am out of menu options. See, I told you I have a larger list of food I don’t eat than what I would.

I really feel that Top Chef should make a challenge based on me–make Nicola a dish she would eat. Because I’m a finicky eater and I know there are others out there like me, like my sister who dissects her meat ensuring there is no cartiledge or visible blood vessel in her bites, I figured writing a restaurant blog would be great. You may be considering a restaurant but may want to know, “would a kid like the food here” or, “would Aunt Flo enjoy this restaurant?” All these answers can come from my blog.

My mom never enjoyed my finicky taste buds except when I loved her food. Our moms make food that shows off our culture and I was raised on British and German-style foods as well as a little bit from other cultures. I was also raised on Sunday Lutheran pot-lucks and lumpia from my friends’ Philippino mothers. I miss those mothers and their lumpia. My mouth is salivating.

Aside from their food, I love cultures for their artistic expressions. I study art history and literature. I was a Fairhaven student at Western Washington University and I love Stan Tag’s creative writing courses. I Jazzercise my calories off me and I’m learning how to order my food in Spanish. I work in the cell phone industry and I live near a lake sandwiched between mountains of which I have spent hours and camera memory photographing. I’m a book-loving, art-loving, finicky-eating, resident of the greenest blue state, Washington and I love dining out.