My name is Ashley Dingeman and I am in love with food. A recent SUNY Geneseo graduate and Saratoga Springs native, it has always been a dream of mine to have the opportunity to do the two things I do best: eat & write. Just like in a Disney movie, I guess dreams really do come true. First off, can I just say that my passion for food goes way beyond simply loving to eat. For some, eating is eating and food is food, but to me, it’s so much more. Every element of the food experience, I love. Perhaps the profound effects of growing up in an Italian family have rubbed off on me. If there was one thing I learned in the process, it was that food brings people together, and where there’s food, there’s family. No, I didn’t grow up in The Olive Garden, but I did grow up privileged to have an incredible Grandmother, and the best cook I’ve ever known. To this day no one will ever be able to replicate her Sunday “gravy”, even though all grandchildren have come close (and some closer than others [me]). It was she who inspired me to begin cooking in the first place, and it is in her honor that I continue on in hopes of inspiring others the same way. So I invite you now to revel in my words, devour my descriptions, fantasize over my photographs, and maybe just maybe, you’ll be move enough to go out and try something for yourself. Project “Eat Your Heart Out” starts now.