I've been tagged - About Me

Tag! ...I'm it thanks to Elena at A Casarella.  

She said Megan over at Our Pinteresting Family tagged her  game of Q&A.  Megan asked eleven questions which Elena answered in her post called Tag and then came up with eleven new questions and tagged me.  

How did you come up with your blog name?  

Cafe Pangaea was chosen because it represents the blending of cuisines that I tend to embrace.  I've never eaten typical "American" food so when I gave up wheat it was easy to embrace cuisines from non-wheat dependent menus.  Cafe Pangaea also represents a state of mind - when I go in a cafe I settle in with a cup of coffee and read or just listen to the often thought-provoking discussions around me.  I want Cafe Pangaea to be a place to do that virtually. It's also a reminder that my life is wholly integrated - work is life, life is work - there are no boundaries to how I follow my passions.  Over time this blog will evolve to cover four themes that govern my life.  They are: Learn - Earn - Give - Live. 

Name one thing about yourself that most people would be surprised to learn.

Most people know me as a home school mom or costume ninja or technical recruiter but long ago, I spent over a decade in the food industry.  My first "job" was to arrange the cookie trays for Summer School at St. Rita's Catholic Church in Racine, WI - I think I was in 6th grade - and I loved it!  During high school and college I worked at Six Flags in Illinois in the Foods department where I learned about high volume food prep and serving.  Six Flags also taught me  "customer service" as a religion.  From there I worked in a variety of restaurants and industrial kitchens in Wisconsin before moving to San Diego to attend UCSD.  Once here, I needed a job so it was back to the restaurant business.  I paid my way through college working in and managing restaurants.  I managed Espresso Roma at UCSD for almost 2 years and helped invent a drink called the Bianca (a white chocolate mocha).  I've held "train-the-trainer" food handler credentials.  I've been an operations manager to a regional franchise.  I've been 'Victor the Cleaner' and have been brought in to turn around struggling locations.  At one time I thought my path was to become a personal chef and/or open a restaurant specializing in comfort food with an edge.  Food blogging is bringing me back to my roots and my first love.  

What blogs do you read religiously?

Cake Wrecks - I hardly miss a day and I never miss on Sundays.  If you've never been there, check it out.  It's pictures of professional cakes gone wrong....seriously, hilariously wrong! 

If money were no object, where would you live and why?

Hawaii for sure.   I want to live where there is a gorgeous natural landscape and where people respect the land.  Ross is from Hawaii and when we visit we do it "like a local" so I have seen parts of the island the tourists don't go to...and if they do it is with a tour so they may not experience the simple wonder of it.  I've hiked on Molokai and eaten guava right off a tree.  I've swam in a waterfall and washed my hair with awapuhi (white ginger) growing on the banks.  It's hard to beat that experience!  My dream is to someday have a coffee plantation on Molokai.  

What fashion choice do you look back on with regret?  

Sammy Hagar parachute pants with zippers (1985/1986) and a mesh shirt over a tank top.   UGH. 

Post a link to your favorite blog post to date.

My favorite post was about a really simple quinoa breakfast I make.  In fact, I had it today.  

What was the first job you ever had?  

I grew up in Wisconsin  near farms - yes, I can drive a tractor and I know how to neuter a pig (I bet NONE of you knew that about me!).  My grandma had a HUGE garden and she would pay the grand kids to pick rocks out of the garden so they didn't clog up the rototiller.  We got a penny per rock, so we'd spend long summer days in the garden, eating more than we worked, filling coffee cans with rocks to earn money to walk to the corner store and get candy. Between the fresh veggies and what she canned and froze,  I didn't buy veggies from a store until I moved to California when I was 20 because she had enough to supply the whole family.  Any visit to my grandmas (about a mile away) meant a return home with a bag full of stuff.  When I had to eat store veggies they were so bad tasting  that I stopped eating veggies for a while.  My grandma took pity on me and sometimes shipped me a box of stuff from the garden.  

What song in your music collection would you consider your guiltiest pleasure?

All of it?  I love everything from Southern Rock to today's songstresses and everything in between.  Probably the only thing I don't really listen to is hardcore rap and opera.  

Fill in the blank:  I would die a happy woman if I discovered that Ree Drummond read my blog.  

I've recently become aware of her and I think she is someone I could sit down with, share a meal, talk home schooling and kids and husbands, and just hang out.  Her blog is what I aspire to for mine - I love how it is all about lifestyle and has all her interests incorporated.  

What is your favorite "tip" to share with other people?  It can be a product you love, a great place to get a bargain, and easy kitchen tip, your favorite book (anything, really).

Right now I'd have to say it's the Wheat Belly book and blog.  I am also really proud of the woodworking my husband does.  

What don't you know how to do with your blog that you'd love to learn?

Syndicate it to make money.  Isn't that the goal for most bloggers?  

According to Elena, the next thing I am supposed to do is tag some other people and come up with eleven new questions.  I don't have new questions in mind so they can answer the same ones I did.  

I'm choosing two people I know in real life, my friend Fay who writes  Tao of Aging and Jodi at Surprise It's Mom who make me LMAO every time I read her stuff.  

No pressure but have fun with this.