A Tasteful Introduction To Your Palate...

Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Jennifer, but you can call me Jey or Jenny. I recently moved to Toronto in May 2010 to pursue my music career, finish my Bachelor in Commerce, work and be with someone I loved. We ended up breaking up, and went through a rough time, and I spent a long time alone. Although, fortunately I was able to find out a lot about myself through my time alone. On a positive note, we re-kindled our love and are as strong as ever :) (Updated May 30 2011)

I've decided that throughout my life, and through many heartbreaks, instead of focusing my love and passion for someone, I've focused my love and passion for things I am most passionate about: Food, Art, Culture, Travel and Music.

I'm a very expressive person. I like to let my feelings show, and the best way that I've found to do that is through art and writing. I've discovered that expressing myself through writing songs and performing on stage gave me a great adrenaline rush, as well as a relief to vent to crowds that understood my songs and felt where I was coming from. It's been awhile since I've performed, or recorded any songs. Why? I was too consumed in making someone else happy, than looking out for my own happiness. This time, I've realized that I need to look out for number one, and that is doing whatever makes me happy.

I've decided to start this blog, as a way to help me find myself. Usually, I think about a quarter-century into our liveswe start to look for who we are as people, and what our purpose of life is on this planet.

It is December 28th, 2010 today. I went back to my hometown of beautiful Montreal on Christmas Eve to visit my family and friends for the holidays. Now I'm headed back to Toronto. I'm kind of dreading going back, because I love Montreal and everything about it. I had a great time with family and friends, and they just reminded me why I miss Montreal so much. Toronto is a cool city, but Montreal has it's unique character that you won't find in Toronto. I feel that Toronto is still waiting to find its own true identity. Don't get me wrong, Toronto has absolutely great places to go to eat, party, listen to live music, and chill out, but for some reason, you don't feel relaxed in this fast paced city. I will blog more about Toronto later on, but I'd like to focus first on the route of my being...being a Montreal girl.

I was born and raised in the West-Island, Montreal. I love the HABS (Montreal Canadiens hockey team). I hate suburbs, therefore don't really like the West-Island. I'm a city girl and I need to be where the action is. I'm not much of a home-body; I love to go out and discover new places and explore. Downtown Montreal is my favourite place to be when I'm in Montreal.

English is my first language, French is my second and Spanish is my third. I'm Filipina, and an only child. I have a lot of cousins whom I consider to be my brothers and sisters, and am very close to my family. I have a Bichon-Maltese dog whose name is Keys and he just turned 3 years old on December 20, 2010. My family themselves have made me a very open-minded and opinionated person. My and aunts and uncles did not all marry Filipinos and stick to their own kind. In fact, most of my cousins married into different cultural backgrounds, which made me accustomed to all different types of beliefs and cultural traditions. That is
where my appreciation for culture came from. My father and his brothers and sisters are musically inclined. My dad was a singer and bassist in a rock band, and his brothers and sisters ALL sing. That's where my passion for music came from. I've always been a creative kid growing up, and appreciated art. My family also are very good cooks. My grandfather on my mom's side used to have me bake breads with him when I was little, and my grandmother on my mom's side used to have me garden with her, and help her make Filipino dishes. On my father's side, my uncle David studied the culinary arts since he was13 years old. He's from Belgium, and is married to my aunt Beth. He's recently been teaching me more about food too. He's also
cooked for our family, and he makes terrific dishes! My uncle Billy who is Greek, also has a great taste for food and owned/managed a few restaurants in his days. A lot of my cousins really enjoy cooking as well, and I guess it is just in our blood. I started travelling when I was 4 years old with my family. I've been to many different places around the world: Venezuela, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Barbados, St-Thomas, the Bahamas, Miami, New York, Los Angeles, Atlanta, Phoenix/Sedona, Hawaii (all islands), the Philippines, Switzerland, France, Italy, Spain... and I still have many countless places I would love to visit.

I've started this blog, because I am on my journey to going to different places, and discovering different cuisines, art, music, and culture. I hope that you will all enjoy reading my blogs on my different journeys!

Click to check out my songs!

On a side note: you can all download my single "You Got Me" - Jey Flores on iTunes and check out my myspace for some of my songs (www.myspace.com/jeyfloresinc).