Hello! So nice to meet you! Welcome to Food, Wine and Flavor. My name is Anne Kjellgren and I am living on beautiful Lake Norman – just North of the Greater Charlotte Metro here in North Carolina. We moved here a year ago after living in Dallas, Texas over 25 years and a 3 year stint in Victoria, British Columbia.
I grew up in the Dakotas as a direct descendent of endless generations of farmers. Getting my hands in the soil (my gardens, in my case) and making meals for friends and family has always been a sacred thing for me. It’s always been one of the more creative aspects of my life since I made my living in Finance, IT, Project Management, Coaching and other nerdy number-driven careers.
I took some time to really think about what I wanted next and after several months walking, hiking, meditating and staring at the lake, I knew that I wanted to take my passions – food, wine, gardening, travel, entertaining – and to put them into a food blog.
I want to help people become free.
Free from thinking there’s a “right” way and a “wrong” way to think about Food Wine and Flavor. Free from thinking that wine is hard or something they can’t understand.
I am here to break down Food, Wine and Flavor in a way that helps people save time, save money, eat seasonally and create beautiful, satisfying and elevated dishes – paired with a beautiful wine that makes the meal truly sing.
I am WSET3 (Wine and Spirits Education Trust) and CSW (Certified Specialist of Wine) certified. I spent my householder years (raising kids) creating my own cheeses, growing gardens, raising chickens and more. I love to entertain and focus on small bites with big flavors.
As an empty nester, I’ve invested in culinary school texts so that I can learn the foundations and then break all of the rules. I was vegetarian or plant-based for many years but recently lost 35+ pounds through a high protein, low-carb diet. So I am all about healthy but believe in embracing comfort foods and trying new things – even if they are outside of our typical diet. In my spare time, I love to travel, camp in my RV, try new restaurants, water ski and I am a certified yoga and meditation teacher.
My goals with Food Wine and Flavor are to show people how to develop flavor, play with new herbs, spices, ingredients – to be free from the conventions of measurements and directions. Instead, to trust our instincts and create – then flawlessly pair the resulting dish with a wine that elevates the entire experience.
We’ll also learn to season dishes to complement a particularly favorite bottle of wine.
In other words, I seek to create meals (and snacks!) that are not not fussy or labor-intensive, but feel satisfying to the senses – like a work of art. You deserve to be satisfied and cared for.
Welcome to Food, Wine and Flavor.