At the end of every summer, our church would hold a park picnic to eat great food, raise money for building restorations, and honestly just celebrate being Armenian. Highlights included competitive oriental rug raffles, interesting musical offerings, 4,000 pieces of baklava, and someone trying to arrange a marriage between Hillary and a man fresh off the boat. 

I'm big into the recommended guidelines for sleep, so for 10 months of the year, my bedtime is promptly 9:30 PM. This is probably because I'm up at the crack of dawn to spend a full day hanging out with 15 year olds... a task that definitely requires a full 8 hours if you want to retain your sanity.

Seven years ago I started working at a seafood restaurant that was owned by the family of one of my closest friends. I knew very little about food at that point. So little, in fact, that when a cook asked me if I wanted fried, sautéed, or broiled scallops I replied, “uh, which is better?”