My HobbiesMotorcycle Riding
One of my happy places is the saddle of my motorcycle. Carving through the multitudes of amazing canyons of Southern California, or going to an occasional track day is a weekend well spent. I guess there is something exhillirating in the smell of racing fuel in the air, the sound of a high reving engine, and the thrill of dragging a knee on tarmac.
Photography
I admire nature and the creatures inhabiting our planet, and what a better way to immortalize it, than to capture it on camera. Photography to me is what golf is to some- a relaxing walk(or drive), with the occasional growl of “Are you kidding me?“. some things are not easy to capture- like the Blue Morpho butterfly, that made me stand in one spot for 30 minutes, before opening its gorgeous wings for me to take the great picture posted above.
Cooking and Baking
There is nothing like the smell of a freshly baked bread…
My first dish was fried potatoes at the age of six (under mom’s supervision of course), with the attempt to prove that I was a big boy. A burned finger and a slightly melted knife handle were the beginning of my culinary journey through life. I have always tried to make a new or interesting dish, or try and put my twist on one of mom’s recipes. Wheher it’s homemade bread, shepheard’s pie, pasta from scratch or just an omlette- I enjoy the process, but mostly I enjoy the enjoynment on people’s faces after they try a piece of my culinary creations. Oftentimes I find myself hovering over the stove or pulling something out of the oven for frequent gatherings.
Moving to Boston made me relize how much we take everyday things for granted- for example an Armenian grocery stores, that are abundant in the Los Angeles County. Not having access to traditional Armenian cured meats, cottage cheese and yoghurt, I began making then at home.
I am proud to say that I currently make cottage cheese, yoghurt, butter, basturma (a traditional Armenian cured meat), and even Armenian feta
Traveling
Traveling and seeing seeing the world, experiencing different cultures, tasting ethnic foods and dishes from other cusines is one of my most favorite things to do. I enjoy airports, airplains, trainstations and trains as much as I enjoy traveling, so I take every chance I get to go somewhere. Most of the time I simply look up a few important places to visit in a city I am about to visit, and the rest of time spent there I simply google an activity and do it if it strikes my curiosity. The most interesting and fun packed trips are the spontaneous and somewhat poorly planned ones- ask me about the time I ended up in Bruges with only $12 in my pocket.
Places I have visited so far:
Reykjavik- Iceland
Frankfurt, Stuttgart, Munich, Dresden, Berlin, Hamburg- Germany
Prague, Brno- Czech Republic
Stockholm- Sweden
Brussels, Ghent, Bruges, Antwerp- Belgium
Rotterdam, Amsterdam, Assen- Holland
Copenhagen- Denmark
Moscow, Uglich, St. Petersburg- Russian Federation
The Maldives
Doha- Qatar
Montreal, Ottawa- Canada
Since 2022 I have traveled through the US extensively, and even had a roadtrip moving from Los Angeles to Boston, and to date I have been to 28 US states including Alaska, and Washing DC.