About

Thats me! Too much hair and a goofy smile :)

Thanks for visiting me on my long journey with food.
First I must confess, I am a recovering junk-food-aholic. I know how silly that sounds, but most of my young life I ate any chemical filled, highly processed food I could get my naive hands on. Against my healthy vegetarian mother's wishes, I rebelled with food. I was surrounded by people who loved and were educated about food, but I opted not to listen. I was taught to think about all living things, to care about our precious world and all the organisms in it, yet put up a brain wall when in came to my eating choices.

I began this blog for many reasons, most urgently being, the environment. A book called Food Matters by Mark Bittman changed the way I see food, forever. Statements like "Global livestock production is responsible for about one-fifth of all greenhouse gases-more than transportation." or "By simply changing what we eat we can have an immediate impact on our health and a very real effect on global warming-and the environment, and animals cruelty, and food prices," blasted into my brain finally getting through the thick wall I had built to tell myself food doesn't matter. Food DOES matter, and big food is as dangerous as big oil, big business, or any other "big" evil.

Finally a switch clicked on inside me. Junk food and fast food was not only harming my body, it harms the planet. The way I ate was BAD for the environment. Dammit! I was so good about recycling, reusing and reducing waste. What to do next? Cook, thats what.

So I started this blog to chart my transformation as an eater, and hopefully encourage and educate people along the way. Discovering that eating healthy is about knowing your food. What nutrients does it give your body, what's in season, how far did your food travel to get to the plate? By learning about food, I am fostering a deep respect for it. A fierce desire to prepare it in ways that are good me and the ones I love, but also making sustainable food choices. Further motivation came from the best source there is, love. My boyfriend (of almost 2 years, wow) is an obscenely healthy eater, aka healthy boyfriend, who inspires me every day to make better choices. Many of these recipes are my love letters to him. That sounds so cheesy, but it's true. Though its ok if you make a face, I would.

This is a vegetarian blog, because the meat industry we currently have set up is not sustainable. I eat meat occasionally, but only local, organic, happy cows and chickens whose whole life wasn't spent in a cage. I am not against eating meat, but it is destructive to the environment. It's also cruel, but everyone feels differently about this. I do not want to lecture, I want to inform and inspire.

As much as possible I focus on seasonal cooking, using local foods from area farmer's markets. I buy organic as much as I can afford to, and am working every day to have at least 70% of my food follow the 100 mile rule.

I'm am far (we are talking not even accepted into the space program if my goal is flying to the moon) from achieving my goals of eating healthy. My blog still has indulgent treats, foods that are not local or bought from sustainable companies, but I am finally looking at food with the same conscious behavior I look at driving my car or recycling.

Less than a year in, and I have gone from barely cooking a decent scrambled egg, to frittatas with local farmer's market eggs and vegetables. Change can happen, I am changing! (And then of course laughing at myself).
I hope to inspire those who don't think they can cook. If I can cook, so can you, some COME ON. Let's change ourselves and hopefully this lovely planet humanity has become so fond of.