Our first Challenge project with MACC Development reminded me of the importance of sitting down with others – those you know well and those you may have just met. Building and sustaining relationships is so important to the foundation of any community, any individual. I have found that my time spent in Detroit has been nurtured through this simple practice.

Listed below are some of my favorite meals to date. As you can tell, it is hard for me to choose just a few! Written above is a poem reflecting on one of these meals shared, any guess as to which it might be?

• Visiting the Pupuseria after Open Streets with Yesenia translating for too many fellows to count
• Ordering happy hour ‘totchos’ at Coach Insignia with new coworkers after my first day of work at the Detroit Grand Prix
• Eating burgers at Craft Work in West Village with Toyia and Edythe
• Snacking on some pickles in Lauren’s kitchen after picking up a new coffee table
• Making a Pico de Gallo with vegetables from the backyard garden and sitting with my neighbor’s cat, Brains, on the back porch
• Trying Gus’s Chicken – the Tennessee fried chicken joint down the street – with Mike right before the Tiger’s game
• Inventing new recipes in my Midtown kitchen with Ryan while we wait for Poonam to join us for dinner
• Traveling home to Clinton Township with my ‘six pack’ cousins to hear I’ll have a second cousin in 9 months
• Acting as sous-chef for Peter as he made a 6-egg omelet and too much homemade pizza
• Deciding to spontaneously stop at a taco truck in Southwest with Everett after hearing from a local photographer
• Cooking Thanksgiving dinner all morning with my mom and learning how to a turkey
• Indulging in some poutine after hiking to the southern-most tip of Canada with a few folks that I know are already lifelong friends