¿Quién soy yo? Quem sou eu? Chi sono io?

 

Demographics:
I was born in Houston, Texas. I received an AA in Liberal Arts from North Harris College (now Lone Star College) and a BA in Psychology and Spanish from the University of Saint Thomas in Houston. After meeting the love of my life in a chatroom in the year 2000 (when there were only dial-up connections hah!), I moved to Los Angeles, attended the University of Southern California, and received my first Master's Degree in Education (Post-Secondary Administration and Student Affairs). I moved back to Texas after I graduated and immediately started working on my second's master's degree in Spanish Linguistics, which I finished in 2006.

Research/Studies:
Now, I'm working on the penultimate step towards earning my doctoral degree in (Brazilian) Portuguese Linguistics - the Qualifying Paper, which is on a topic related to my doctoral dissertation. For any linguistic nerds out there, my topic is about the grammaticalization process and syntactic environments of two Portuguese verbs - ter (to have) and haver (to be), which have been competing against each other in almost all semantic ranges in Brazilian Portuguese. I plan to study the formal/informal written and spoken contexts comprised of these verbs. From there, I hope to analyze the social meanings behind the use of these two verbs. Did I bore you yet? I hope not, because I'm pretty excited about this topic. :)

Background:
Now, I'm single and live alone (awww) - hence, the name of this blog, which means "I eat alone/by myself" in Italian. I am obsessed with different languages, cultures, and traveling; I'm a true xenophile. I can hold a conversation in English (my native language), Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese, and a little in Italian. I have a reading knowledge of French and know a few signs in ASL. I am now in the beginning process of learning Korean. My mother is my best friend in the whole world. We are like peas and carrots (-from Forrest Gump haha). I also still talk to my first love of more than 10 years ago, and we go back and forth with our relationship. Her daughters are very special to me, and I've know them since they were 2 and 4.

Profession:
I am an Assistant Instructor of Spanish (third semester level) at my university. I love teaching because I get to work with grammar and impart knowledge to my students in hopes to get them excited about learning other languages as well.

Beliefs/Soapbox:
I am a true feminist. I believe gender should not dictate what a person can or cannot do unless it is truly biological (e.g., giving birth or urinating standing up without struggling haha). Therefore, gender does not and should not determine who "belongs" in the kitchen or at the grill - only a person's ability, drive, need, and/or desire to engage in such activities.

Why a Food Blog?:
I love to bake and cook. I just started baking/cooking a little over a year ago. Before that time, I would eat out, buy microwaveable meals, or make simple sandwiches. I now love to try out different international dishes and make them as authentic as possible after much research and recipe comparisons. I also enjoy baking for my family, friends, colleagues, and students.

Petition:

Please stop by my blog often and leave comments in French, English, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, Korean, or any other language you prefer. I love visitors!