A Journey Off Recipe, Off Road, and Outside the Plan

I WEAR MISMATCHED SOCKS, AND NEVER FOLLOW THE RECIPE! TAKE A WALK ON MY WILD SIDE.

THIS BLOG STARTED IN MARCH of 2020, DURING THE CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC, TO KEEP ME FOCUSED ON POSSIBILITIES AND THE HOPE THAT WE’D ALL BE OUT AND ABOUT AGAIN ONE DAY VERY SOON. AS OF DECEMBER 2025 WE’RE OUT AND BEYOND AND MY LIFE DOES INDEED NOW BELOW SOLELY TO ME (I’M RETIRED!) BUT STILL STAYING BUSY, PAINTING, COOKING, TRAVELLING, AND HOPING WE RUN INTO EACH OTHER ON THE ROAD OR AT A RESTAURANT/BREWERY/WINERY/ARTGALLERY SOME DAY SOON!

Recipes and Memories

3 loaves of bread browned from the oven — Baking bread on a rainy day

Mad Tastes includes a collection of my recipes, childhood memories, hiking and travel adventures near and far, and my own reflection on it all and how it connects. My mom, Lillian, taught me how to cook out of an engraved french cookbook she got before she got married. She never claimed to be an amazing cook but she literally got our hands into the dough as you can see from the photo below. I think she’d love the recipes featured here.

4 children mixing bread in a bucket — Making bread on the kitchen table.

No Calories to Look

Reading about it is one thing, but I’ve discovered that many people like the photos I take of restaurants, food, and especially beverages. Of the ridiculous number of photos and reviews I’ve featured on Google Maps, I’ve had almost over 100 Million views! My goal for 2020 was to hit 1 Million views which I did early on. The next goal was 2 million and I started 2021 with over 3 million. Here we stand in 2026 with over 100 million, and I frequently get asked by businesses to review them. Look for me on Google Maps to view all my photos of restaurants, parks, and other great places to travel and businesses to work with. As for the food photos, most of them stay right here. Start drooling!