We are moving! After almost six years in my beloved Madison, Wisconsin, the Choi family is moving to the east coast!
Before I get into it, I first just wanted to say thank you. Thank you for your continued support, encouragement and well wishes. My little space on the internet has grown over the years and sometimes it’s hard to put all of yourself out there. I mentioned and shared on social media that we were moving, in hopes of getting the news out there in order to help us sell our house (if you’re looking for a house in Waunakee, please reach out to me) and immediately after I did so, I was filled with regret and wanted to retain some sense of privacy.
I know I regularly share things going on in my life but this was hard.
For those of you who respected that I wasn’t ready to share everything, and have waited, thank you. This was an opportunity for my family that just came up. We had to make a life decision to move our family to the east coast within 2 weeks. It’s been stressful and hard but we are very excited to see where this next chapter of life takes us!
This is a very bittersweet blog post for me to write. Five and a half years ago, we moved here from Seattle, WA and I didn’t think Madison, Wisconsin would ever grow on me.
After advice and looking at houses, we chose Waunakee to live and raise our kids, mainly because of the schools, and met some really great neighbors and people. Upon moving in, we were greeted by five or six families, all coming to the house one at a time to introduce themselves and say hello and welcome us to the neighborhood. Some baked brownies, one family gave us a frozen lasagna (which introduced me to Gino’s Italian Deli! Thank you, Nicky!) and other baked goods I can’t remember. . but all of them, I kid you not gave me hand written note cards with: their names, email addresses, phone numbers, cell phone #’s and names and ages of their children and their kids’ information if they were old enough to babysit.
We moved here in November of 2013. That winter would be one of the coldest here in like 20 years or something. In the month of January, on a day where the kids were home with me, with what felt like 3 consecutive days being home from school because the wind chill was -30, and I felt like I was going crazy, I was thinking to myself. . how am I going to do this? How am I going to live here in Wisconsin?!
But then the spring came. Suddenly people I had never even seen before emerged from their houses. People were friendly and smiling. Flowers were blooming and we were in shorts and flip flops.
I am writing a completely separate blog post to share how I fell in love with Wisconsin. Madison, Waunakee, I really love it here and our time here was been amazing.
Obviously, with my food blog, I started exploring the city and what the restaurants here had to offer. I wanted to see what the chefs in the area were doing. Paul and I, back then, were doing a date night every month and trying new restaurants in Madison.
Madison became a place for me to grow. Grow as a person but also grow my brand, my following and because of the size of Madison, I was able to get to know a lot of people in this community. I don’t think I would ever have had the same experience had I lived in a different, larger city. Madison has been a treasure for me and I love this city so much.
Here’s my round-up of some of my favorite spots and restaurants in Madison. A lot of you have asked for this! I hope you enjoy!
If you’re local and live here, get out and support your local community.
So, this is farewell for now, but I will be back to visit for sure! Until then, if Madison, Wisconsin was ever on your “places to visit” list, go! Visit! Come here! And if you’re local and live here, get out and support your local community. Eat out, go to the Farmer’s Markets, support local businesses and restaurants! They need you in order to survive!
Madison, Wisconsin will always have a very special place in my heart. I do plan to have a happy hour at Heritage Tavern: looking like Thursday, August 29th from 4 to 6pm.
New Beginnings
At the end of August, we will be moving to Pennsylvania! We will be living close to Philadelphia, PA. I will be a 2 hour train ride to New York City! DC, Maryland, New Jersey are all also close by.
Some of you who follow me on Instagram and live in Philadelphia have already guessed correctly. . since my family and I were there over July 4th. We were even stopped on the streets in downtown Philadelphia as we were walking to Independence Hall.
Philadelphia, I can’t wait!
The food scene in Philadelphia is vibrant and diverse. I am beyond excited to explore and get to know the city. It’s the city of brotherly love so. . See you soon, Philadelphia!
Hip Foodie Mom
Regarding my food blog and Instagram, everything will remain the same. I’ll still be developing recipes and creating video content. Something exciting that I’ve always wanted to do: as soon as we get settled, I’ll be looking into hosting cheese board workshops in the NYC/Brooklyn and Philadelphia area! So please stay tuned!
I’ll be spending a lot of time in both the Philadelphia area and NYC and exploring all the food so if you have recommendations, please send them.
Also. . .
We are building a house. in PA. I am beyond excited. Stay tuned for more. Thank you again for all of your love, support and encouragement. I’ll be the first to say that you can absolutely find real, genuine and nice people out there on the internet and social media. And to you all, I am forever grateful and I’m so excited to see what happens next!
Thank you,
Alice
