Hello and welcome to the Busy Hedonist! My name is Tracey.
I love all kinds of food, from fried clams and lobster rolls at my favorite New England clam shack to beef cheek ravioli at Babbo, from 5-for-$1 pork dumplings in Chinatown to the tasting menu at Gramercy Tavern. I’ve eaten freshly-made mozzarella in Rome, roadside porchetta in Spoleto, an unforgettable fish stew in Venice. I’ve eaten my way around France, slurped noodles in Japan and enjoyed beachside fish tacos in Belize. Yet still, I always enjoys returning to New York, my favorite food city, where I love dining out and shopping at all the amazing food stores for ingredients I bring home and cook in my NYC kitchen.
Food + travel are the paradigms by which I live.
Food is love + nourishment.
Adventure + travel are part of my soul.
To enjoy life’s small + profound pleasures is my mantra.
I want to help you enjoy life more, whether it’s as simple as discovering a new dish to cook or as profound as creating a new way of life for yourself.
Being a busy hedonist is about making your life richer, and that’s what I want for you.
I believe in saying “no” to mediocrity and “yes” to what I love. Which means I’ve created a life of my own design—involving food, travel, writing, and being a mom to a very special and creative 4-year old.
I want you to live on your own terms, too. It’s your birth right.
Ever since I was young I always wanted to see the world beyond the Boston Common—and to taste new food around the globe. Part of my love affair with food took place in my best friend’s kitchen.
When I was a teenager I ventured to Japan, a mesmerizing country where I, in a bizarre twist of fate, had an appendectomy, and to France, which became one of my favorite places on Earth.
Then I moved to New York City. The energy, the lights, the food, the chaos…I sincerely fell in love with it all (SO different from Boston) and can’t imagine living anywhere else on the planet. I walk around, always enchanted by this magical city and its offerings. For years I lived in Chinatown and felt like a stranger in a strange land, a feeling that gives me a rush.
I once drove from Rome to Venice, stopping in the Umbria region and in Florence in Bologna. I loved every second of it. I visited Nice, Cannes, Avignon, Marseille, Paris and other gorgeous places in France. I met relatives in Belgium, spent time in Amsterdam, Holland, and studied with some talented writers in the Czech Republic (where I visited some fascinating sites, including Terezin and a church made out of human bones). Last year I spent a few days in a glamorous hacienda in Costa Rica, savored Peruvian cuisine the Amazon River in Peru and visited an old ghost town in the mountains of Colorado. This year I will go to Paris, San Antonio, Phoenix—and to Africa on a safari, all because I write about travel.
Wherever I go, I’m drawn to explore food. I visit markets and restaurants. I pop into bakeries and wine shops. I browse the stalls of farmers’ markets and I walk the aisles of spice stores. I love seeing what people eat around the world and what imaginative chefs create in their kitchens.
I’m as happy at a clam shack on the beach as I am at a 5-star restaurant. I enjoy the pleasure of eating a ripe tomato in the summer as much as I love eating an incredible dish made by my one of my favorite chefs.
I love the simplicity of a hard-boiled egg dusted with sea salt and the complexity of cooking with lots of spices and unique ingredients. I love helping others figure out what to eat for dinner.
Say no to mediocrity and “yes” to what you love. Make life richer.
I invite you to join my hedonistic newsletter or just say hello by email.
Cheers, with a glass of Prosecco,
Tracey
More about Tracey:
Tracey worked at several top Boston and NYC restaurants and hung up her apron over 10 years ago to use her degree in journalism and love of food to write about her favorite subject: food. Her articles have appeared in many publications, including The Boston Globe, The New York Times City Section, The New York Daily News, Dean & Deluca’s Gourmet Food Blog, Hauteliving.com, The New York Sun, Relish, Time Out, Citysearch.com, Papermag.com, among others.
Tracey loves finding the best places to eat in NYC and around the world, plus cooking and creating recipes in her NYC kitchen, using the abundant ingredients she finds in NYC’s specialty food stores.
Tracey was twice awarded fellowships in fiction from The Ragdale Foundation, where she worked on her novel, The Patisserie of Dreams. Originally from Boston, Tracey lived in NYC”s Chinatown for many years and now resides in Park Slope, Brooklyn, with her husband and daughter.
