I’m Anna. Recovering picky eater. Self-proclaimed supertaster.  Lover of good manners, dinner parties and gummy bears.

The other person you’ll meet here is my husband, Jan. He’s a wildland firefighter and forest ranger. His way of unwinding at the end of the day? Cooking (with no complaints from me). Likes: kitchen gadgets, charcuterie, caviar, feeding people.

(And just to make things difficult, our names are pronounced “yawn” and “ah-na”—what you get when you have Czech/Czech and Swedish/Spanish parents, respectively.)

The Blog

This blog began in 2010 when I created a collection of personal photos, titled them “Our Life in Meals,” and shared them with family and friends. After viewing the pictures from a month-long road trip Jan and I took across the Southwestern United States, one friend commented, “There are more pictures of the meals than the monuments!” It was then we realized we might do food, travel, and everyday cooking a bit differently.

Considering the enthusiastic response, I wanted to share more of our food adventures, both at home and on the road. I initially thought I’d catalog our culinary experiences from the safety of the bar-side of our kitchen countertop and stay out of Jan’s way. But as I watched from the sidelines, my own interest in cooking grew.

Preparing meals together has come to mean so much more than just two (very different) people coming to a compromise, or about the end results (almost always amazing). It’s become our way of having fun, being healthy, saving money, sharing with others, and enjoying life to the fullest.

Thanks for stopping by!