Served Sonni Side Up: Welcome!

I've always been a foodie, they just didn't have a word for it when I was growing up (or at least I wasn't aware). Family and friends just saw my food obsessed nature as a funny quirk - or a dangerous one when I would get hangry (see link for detailed explanation).

This blog has been created due to popular demand from the same family and friends who have been subject to my verbose and animated descriptions of anything and everything I consume. I love to eat food. I love to make food. I equally love to talk about it.

Below is my foodie resume, a timeline of sorts:

As young as age 5 is when I started creating my own recipes - the cheese wrapped hotdog in a tortilla was my brilliant innovation. Fast forward 22 years later and I see THIS.
Some kids ask for ice cream or cookies for dessert - I took matters into my own hands by making homemade apple crisp from scratch at night. I don't even know how I knew what ingredients to throw together, but I would melt butter, add some oats, brown sugar, cinnamon and sprinkle over sliced apples. This concoction would go into the toaster oven until it was warm and gooey, ready for individual consumption by me.
In high school, my friends would come to my house for after school snacks. We're not talking about chips and dip here people, they came for the good stuff. Thankfully, the Sonni's stocked the fridge with some nice cold cuts and a wide selection of cheese. I would carefully construct sandwiches, add my secret ingredient (Carla's homemade Italian dressing), and place the sandwich in the toaster oven. Friends coined these "Danielle-belly" sandwiches. Potbelly had some major competition.
College was a dark period for my foodie-ness. Taco Bell played a major role and I think we can leave it at that.
Post-college living in Chicago is when I fully embraced the term "foodie" - cooking, entertaining and most importantly trying new restaurants frequently.

In this blog I hope to share my experiences in the kitchen, in the most fab spots as well as the hidden gems of Chicago, and new finds I discover during my travels.

I've started off with two posts to get the ball rolling and plan to post at least once a week from here on out. You can also follow me on Instagram @dsonni for a photo foodie journey. Please join me and enjoy!