About Me!

My name is Sara. Pronounced like the word “star”, minus the “t”, plus an “a” (like when you say “ahhhh” at the doctor). Pronunciation is thanks to the Russian side of my family. I was born and raised in a 400 sq. ft. NYC apartment. I went to college in NJ (a rarity for a city kid), absolutely loved it, and spent a few years living there after. I am a strange city & suburbs hybrid kind of girl. The midnight car honking and ramblings of late-nighters still lull me to sleep…but there’s something about the stars and crisp evening air that makes you want to step away from it.

Regardless of my split loyalty, I’ve found my way back to this concrete craziness by following my nose toward the fresh bagels and street fair Thai food, and will be here for the foreseeable future. I got my Master’s Degree in 2017 in Urban Policy & Leadership, focusing on Education & Community Development, and have been enjoying the forgotten zen of free time again. And by free, I mean I am “only” working full-time instead of the insane work-and-school combination I was sporting for several years. Somebody pour me some wine.

I’m a huge foodie. I think about food so much that I should probably be studied. I also love to cook, and I rarely follow recipes. My (tiny) kitchen is my playground and if I can put it into a pan/pot/crock/roaster, I probably will, and I will probably splash half of it all over the wall before I’m done (I don’t use aprons, either). I usually plan my dinner while I am still eating breakfast. Few things in this world are better than delicious flavors.

In the fall of 2012, my girlfriend (now wife) and I quit our jobs, packed up our things into storage, and went on a road trip around the country for 5 weeks in my tiny blue car. This is where I fell completely and madly in love with traveling, and discovering local eats along the way. I kept a travel blog which I converted into a section of my current page. Below is the original link, (or see “The Original Road Trip USA” section of this page):

http://www.saraelena.blog.com/

I’ve been chasing the opportunity to see as much of the world as possible ever since. I finished visiting all 50 states in the USA in 2017 and am moving my way through the rest of the world now. I want to see, feel, and taste everything…and write it all down. Half of our money goes to our little NYC apartment, but that’s okay – we do our best to put the rest aside for exploring. I’ll keep sharing my bits of this wacky life with anybody who feels like listening.

Thanks for tuning in 🙂