STATS

read them here.

INTRO

adrien’s childhood was as simple as they come.

two devoted parents, a white picket fence, there was nothing out of the ordinary about him, at least to the outside world.

to him, he lived a life full of magic. a life that saw beef turn into comfort, and chicken into warmth - that carried spices on the air like perfume and kept him starry eyed, every day, about what he might find on the dining room table.

his parents’ love for cooking was apparent to him at an early age and he adopted it quickly, padding after them in the kitchen as soon as he was old enough to walk.

and while most kids his age would hate trading in nights with their friends for closing shifts at their parents’ restaurant, adrien considered it a gift. he looked forward to every moment he spent in that small american bistro, eking knowledge and focus from his mom and dad even when he was just bussing tables. 

perhaps, then, it was no real surprise when high school graduation came and went and adrien was on the first flight out of california, driven by a dream to learn food in all its forms.

those early years on his own went by in a blur, most of his days spent country to country, immersing himself as deep as their food culture would let him.

in his 30s, though, everything changed as he stumbled on an unexpected but easy focus: wine. though not cuisine outright, adrien saw it as a unique gateway to it - something that, at its very core, had ways of enhancing food in ways that many other alcohols didn’t. 

so, in a move that shocked just about everyone who knew him, he returned to the us to pursue sommelier training -- and the rest, they say, is history.

with school behind him, adrien returned to the road, spending a few years here and there as a sommelier in his favorite cities to grow his expertise.

but he wouldn’t be him if he didn’t give into whim and move somewhere completely unfamiliar for the experience alone --- which is how he finds himself at magnetic island, a few months shy of his fortieth birthday and ready to start anew for the umpteenth time.

extra tidbits.

as the god of cheesemaking, beekeeping, and olive growing, adrien’s true identity really shines in his inherent skill for menu crafting and wines. there isn’t a cheese he can’t match perfectly with a wine, which is typically his go-to skill for a job interview or party trick; and that skill has made it easier for him to suggest wines for restaurants to buy based on their menu.

not long after moving to the island, he pseudo-adopted an outdoor cat that stops by his bungalow nearly every day - he calls her gouda. 

WANTED CONNECTIONS.