Monday, October 31, 2011

All treats, no tricks

Okay, so it's been two weeks. GP has been working late recently, which typically means I capitalize on leftovers, but I've captured my dinners for the past two weeks to share a sampling of my ovo-pesco-vegan diet. (As a side note, please forgive the poor quality of the photos. I unfortunately don't own a fancy camera and the flourescent light in my kitchen makes everything an ugly yellow.)

To start off, a big batch of chana masala via Smitten Kitchen. GP and I both love Indian food and chickpeas, so when I realized that such a thing as chickpea curry existed, I knew I had to make it. I will say that this receipe left the chickpeas a little dry, so I'd add some more water, but otherwise it was tangy and delicious. I ate it with some jasmine rice and Trader Joe's garlic naan.

With some extra rice, GP and I made this crab fried rice from a little book of Chinese recipes I was given. It was very light and fragrant, with bean sprouts, leeks, crab, egg and lime juice.

This is one of my new favorite recipes, pumpkin rotini from Hipster Food's Chickpea magazine. Though the blog's name is cringe-worthy, Hipster Food is a good resource for tasty vegan fare. This pumpkin rotini is, in my opinion, the perfect vegan substitute for mac 'n cheese. The sauce is a seasoned mixture of pumpkin puree and rice milk, and has all the ooey-gooey creaminess and warmth of a bowl of classic Kraft.

Sauteed mushrooms and kale over polenta. I found this recipe at Epicurious, used Trader Joe's pre-made polenta, nixed the pancetta and cheese and swapped vegetable broth for chicken broth. Maybe it was all of the modifications, but this dish was pretty bland and boring, and still required me to use 3 pots and pans! All it was was kale and mushrooms, seasoned and cooked down in broth, over warm polenta. I could probably find ways to improve upon the recipe, but overall the end result isn't worth all the cleanup.

Fall is here and I'm thrilled to take advantage of seasonal vegetables and get into the harvest/Halloween spirit. With extra pumpkin puree from the rotini, I made these pumpkin spice cookies working off of a recipe at Group Recipes. They turned out moist and tasty and I made sure to share them with co-workers, lest I eat three dozen by myself.

GP likes to pick on my general lack of knowledge when it comes to seafood. His father is an accomplished member of the industry, so he grew up eating and learning about a lot of aquatic creatures. I've never really liked seafood or fish in any form, but I've forced myself to open up and eat new and different kinds of seafood with more frequency, in order to take advantage of the excellent health benefits. However, as GP points out, I tend to pick the most complicated, exotic types of seafood that end up making me frustrated and nervous. Instead of trying a simple, versatile whitefish like cod or mahi mahi, I buy shell-on prawns and oysters. This past summer I excitedly made paella and was introduced to mussels. While they did make me a little nervous (How do I keep them alive in the fridge? What if I eat a bad one?) they were tasty and fun to cook and eat. Now that seafood is a main source of protein for me, I'm trying to make it the centerpiece of 2-3 meals each week. So I tried mussels again, and worked off of a recipe in the Good Housekeeping Cookbook, cooking them with wine, herbs and alliums and serving them with crusty bread (and more wine). The meal was light and felt oh-so fancy.


As I said, fall is here, and I'm trying to work in a lot of seasonal vegetables. Food bloggers the internet over seem to be squealing about brussel sprouts. I'll be honest, I had never had brussel sprouts before, but I was eager to try them. I made several meals out of two recipes. One was roasted potatoes and brussel sprouts from The Kitchn (nix the bacon) with a side of Trader Joe's Harvest Grains Blend (I love this stuff). The other I found at the fabulous blog The Bitten Word, which was for sauteed brussel sprouts with sriracha and cashews. The sprouts with potatoes and grains is a hearty (albeit starch-heavy) rib-sticker, while the sriracha and cashew stir fry is hot, nutty and crunchy. Two thumbs up for both.


Getting a little lazy and cooking for one, I made a couple of omelets, a huge veggie one and a kale and mushroom. With the veggie omelet I re-heated a weekend attempt at sriracha hashbrowns I invented. Shredded potatoes with chopped onions and jalapenos, seasoned with cayenne pepper and sriracha. I thought the idea was pretty good, but even after many attempts, I cannot make crispy, flavorful hash browns. Mine end up soggy and all the flavors are masked by oil. Anyone have some pointers?


Pasta pasta pasta! I tried a new pasta dish called 'Harvest Primavera' from Whole Foods, and turned to an old favorite from The Kitchn, soba noodles with wilted bok choy. I was skeptical about the Whole Foods recipe, as I've had a 50% success rate with their recipes in the past, but this was a winner. Seasonal vegetables mixed with a pound of penne in a tangy, spicy tomato sauce. As you can see, it made enough to feed me for quite a while and I never tired of it. The night on which I made the soba noodles may not have been the best, it was freezing rain outside and this is a cold, slimier dish, but it's easy, light, healthy and delicious.

Of the few types of seafood I did grow up enjoying, scallops were second only to shrimp. I love their delicate, distinct flavor, and the fact that they are visually unintimidating, like the seafood equivalent of a chicken nugget (not to insult the scallop). They are tender, juicy bites of yum. I found this recipe for smoky scallops with fennel at The Kitchn. I love fennel, I love scallops, I also love wine and tomatoes, so this sounded amazing. Unfortunately, it turned out very bland. Both scallops and fennel have very light, delicate flavors which I think were lost in the cooking and the wine base. Everything also lost it's color and looked a bit grey. I omitted the tomatoes as GP doesn't like them very much and served everything on brown rice. I wish this turned out better, but it fell short.

Lastly, the first recipe I've tried by Mark Bittman, practical healthy-eating advocate, author and food writer at The New York Times. He is one of my four 'food heroes' as I call them, Mark, Mike, Jamie and Joel, otherwise known as Mark Bittman, Michael Pollan, Jamie Oliver and Joel Salatin (please Wikipedia as necessary). But more about them later. Bittman has written several compendiums of '101 recipes' for the Times, which are lists of quick, cheap meal ideas following a certain theme - Thanksgiving, summer, salads, etc. This is #4 on his summer recipes, a simple mix of seasoned white beans and shrimp. I added some crusty bread and thoroughly enjoyed this light but savory dinner. The leftovers also made a fantastic lunch.

So there you have it, my dinners (and most lunches) for two weeks. For breakfast I consistently eat either cold cereal with rice milk, or fruit, so that's my ovo-pesco-vegan diet. I'm even more excited about the upcoming meals I have planned. I'm diving headfirst into hearty fall cooking (I think I was forced to, considering it snowed two days ago) and making stuffed pumpkins tonight for a Halloween dinner, followed by Ribollita soup, sweet potato and black bean chili, puttanesca pasta, and a squash and egg skillet.

To close, I'll share this year's jack-o-lanterns: a portrait of my cat, Count Rugen, and Me Gusta.
I've enjoyed carving the annual jack-o-lantern for as long as I can remember. However, I think I was in middle school when I discovered the magic of jack-o-lantern stencils, and every year since I've made at least one detailed carving - everything from Jack Sparrow to Gollum to Barack Obama to Eric Northman. This year I kept my focus more at home, choosing a picture that looked like the real  man in my life, Rugen, and what can I say, Me Gusta was made to be put on a pumpkin.

Happy Halloween!

Monday, October 10, 2011

Ovo-pesco-whuh?

I don't know whether it's official or not, but October seems to be the month for food-related events. Last weekend was the Boston Local Food Festival which GP and I attended. It was a huge event full of local vendors and organizations with lots to eat and drink! There was a special local craft brew tasting event held at the Daily Catch where you paid $25, got a cup and got two hours to taste as many samples of local beer, wine, mead and cider as you could handle. Considering we hadn't eaten breakfast when we showed up, we took it a little easy, but it was still delicious and fun.

Coming up, October 24 is National Food Day, sponsored by the Center for Science in the Public Interest. I've been excited about this event since last winter when I first learned about it, and I'm glad that there are going to be a number of events taking place around Boston that day. There is no standard event, the CSPI is simply encouraging organizations, restaurants, schools, governments and the public to host events, large and small which highlight food and the myriad issues surrounding it, namely diet-related disease, farming, hunger, environmental health, junk food marketing to children, and farm labor. The CSPI has been holding monthly webinars which touch on each of the issues and I have been listening in. The CSPI functions as an independent consumer advocacy organization who are basically the watchdogs of the food industry and the government. They step in to advocate for public and environmental health and seek to educate the public about major food issues. I'm appreciative and excited about the work they are doing and about the Food Day events which are in the works. Because it's on a Monday, unfortunately I won't be able to go to any daytime events, but I plan on going to a documentary film screening at Harvard - I'll update once it's happened!

Then there's even more! The weekend after Food Day, October 29-30 is the Boston Vegetarian Food Festival, which as GP rightly assumed, I plan on going to. So yeah, I don't know if it's because of the harvest season with it's last hurrah of agricultural yield before the New England snow hits and the color green disappears from the natural world for a solid five months, but everyone is celebrating food this month. I'm not complaining :)

As for my cooking adventures at home, I finally watched one too many documentaries about the numerous health, moral, economic and environmental woes that arise from eating meat (this one actually) and took the inevitable leap to cutting out red meat and poultry from my diet. A little bit about my dietary history, I've always eaten a pretty average, not extremely unhealthy nor uber-healthy American diet. In high school I was a 'loose' vegetarian for two years, trying it out to support animal welfare and lose weight but I was never fully dedicated to it. I was 'loose' because I'd allow myself a meat-filled dinner of takeout Chinese food or a burger about once a month. I eventually gave it up entirely. My diet changed again when I studied abroad in China for five months. While there, I didn't eat any dairy (it's not part of the traditional diet and is pretty hard to find) and I ate a great deal more fresh fruits and vegetables, along with smaller amounts of less-processed meat. I lost 30 pounds without trying to. Since I returned home two years ago I've tried to maintain the same diet more-or-less which has had it's difficulties. Even if I ate the same kinds of bread and meat as in China, it was inevitably more processed and less fresh, and of course cheese is pretty much inescapable in the U.S., so I've slacked a little and allowed myself a bit of fromage here and there.

But no longer. I'm putting my foot down. Since GP and I have gotten our own place it's much easier to control my whole diet, and with my new healthy food obsession we've been eating better and better. The only junk food we buy is some chocolate and tortilla chips, and the majority of our dinners are vegetable and grain-based Asian cuisine (Indian, Japanese, Chinese, Vietnamese, Thai). I've been balancing our meals as 50/50 vegetarian, so without dairy, we've been eating a lot of vegan meals for awhile. With this new decision to cut out red meat and poultry, I'm technically eating an ovo-pesco-vegan diet, aka eggs and fish are the only animal products I'll eat. I decided to leave these animal products in because I think a strict vegan diet is a little unpractical for me, I won't have to worry about getting enough protein and vitamin B-12, and can still enjoy the many health benefits of eating fish/seafood.

I didn't expect GP to adopt the diet with me, I was more than willing to cook him his own portions of beef, pork and chicken, but surprisingly, he said he'd make the transition too. He is one of those rare people who enjoys eating healthily. His favorite 'junk' food is bread and he loves vegetables and seafood. He also has no sweet tooth which I simply cannot understand as I pine for a cookie after dinner every night. Also, as he pointed out, this isn't a huge change from how we were already eating.

So there it is, we are ovo-pesco-vegans as silly as it sounds. I'm not sure if the terminology is 100% correct, as we're technically not vegans by including eggs and fish, but we're not ovo-pesco-vegetarians, because that would imply that we eat dairy. Whatever, they're all buzzwords anyway. So what do two ovo-pesco-vegans eat, you ask? I'll be documenting what I eat for a full week (dinners at the very least) and will share it in my next post.

Until then!

Sunday, September 18, 2011

Pizza and beer - kitchn style

Hello again, it's been a while. I'll admit that the errands of everyday life, coupled with my malignant laziness, have kept me away from the computer. I was also in a bit of a culinary slump for a couple of weeks - turning to easy staples such as enchiladas, stir frys and noodle dishes without trying anything new. But I snapped out of it.

Here are some of the more interesting things I've made since my last post:

Portabella burgers via Guilty Kitchen

 Moo Shu tofu via Weight Watchers

Salmon cakes with lemon yogurt sauce via Epicurious

Honey cornbread muffins via Food Network

Elote with guacamole

and, per the title:
Sweet potato, caramelized onion and rosemary pizza

Beer popsicles

These last two recipes both came from Apartment Therapy's cooking blog, the kitchn (seriously, if you haven't gone yet, GO) which always has quirky ideas for all types of food. The entire blog has a specific vibe to it, and that includes the recipes. Browsing through the site I imagine all the contributors and readers to be well-off twenty and thirty somethings (yuppies) who have part-time or work-from-home creative careers, (interior design, graphic design, clothing design, food photography, florists), and who are always looking for the next simple beauty to delight at (magnetic spice jars, chalkboard paint, bookshelf lighting, herb-muddled cocktails, a new boutique devoted solely to organic agave nectar, etc.) It's a clean, simple blog of young people swapping domestic ideas. Every contributor, whether detailing how to decorate your mantle with vinyl records, or giving must-have tips on preparing Thanksgiving dinner, is eco-conscious, health-conscious and economical. Local foods and products are encouraged, cleaner, healthier alternatives to ingredients and building materials are trumpeted, and the best flea markets for mid-century furniture are announced with glee. The posts and comments can sometimes be pretentious - even laughably so (read the general consensus about the Netflix price hike here), but I love this site like I love chocolate. It's fun and comforting to lose yourself in the minutiae of domesticity: "Oo I could paint a statement wall." "I could design my own zany computer desk." "I could grow my own heirloom tomatoes!" "Mmm I should add some lemon zest and pomegranate seeds to that dish." Needless to say, it's the perfect place to find ideas for an unconventional, vegetarian, herb-infused pizza pie and homemade grown up sweet treats.

More recent food news in my life: I accidentally ate a habanero pepper. This event taught me that I knew nothing about the varieties of chili peppers and that I really need to learn. As it turns out, a friend of the family has a family farm in New Hampshire. I headed north to visit my parents last week and we visited to buy some veg and support the owners. I was blown away by the variety of produce they had available (see the website) and I bought a ton of food - kale, soy beans, potatoes, onions, corn, tomatoes, popcorn, garlic, carrots, squash, and chili peppers - for a very low price. The bin said only 'Chili Peppers', so I grabbed a handful of short and long, smooth and wrinkly, green, red and orange peppers. The other night I was making Jamie Oliver's recipe for sweet and sour pork, and it called for a chili pepper. I looked at my farm-fresh assortment and decided that the round little orange one was fun and colorful, so I seeded it (thank god), sliced it and tossed it in with all the other ingredients. As soon as it hit the pan, capsaicin seared the air and GP and I were choking, coughing and crying trying to finish the dish. He showed up after I had chopped everything, and when I told him that I had used the orange pepper, he explained, laughing.

Once we managed to cook everything through, still coughing a bit, it was time to eat. Talk about trial by fire. The entire dish burned lips, tongue, throat and stomach. The capsaicin heat masked the sweet and sour flavor of everything, so it was pretty much just 'spicy pork'. It wasn't so overwhelming as to be inedible (and GP and I both like things as spicy as we can handle), but we had to break every few minutes or so until our tastebuds stopped tingling enough for us to try another mouthful. We then trained ourselves in chili pepper recognition, and studied the Scoville scale (see illustration above the habanero in the first image), so overall it was a learning experience - albeit a slightly painful one.

That's all for this post. I have more food-related events to share but I'll save them for next time. Be sure to check out links for most of these recipes in the panel on the right.

Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Beating the heat

So like the rest of the country, Boston was in quite a heatwave these past couple of weeks, and I can't say I'm sorry that it's finally broken. I do not like heat. I would much rather freeze to death than burn. Heat makes me anxious and cranky and ill-feeling and worst of all - it steals my appetite. Being cold is preferable because a) you can warm yourself up more easily than cool yourself down, and b) cold weather is very romantic. Think about it, you get to wear fashionable coats, scarves, gloves and hats, and huddle for warmth with a special someone; the cold seasons bring magical weather with falling autumn leaves and sparkling snow; and of course, food in cold weather is all about heat and comfort and indulgence - roasted meats, baked root vegetables, savory sauces, mulled wine and cider and as many different hot pies as you can stomach.


And now I can't wait until Christmas... Anywho, so the heat made cooking with the gas range quite undesirable, and I went searching for something cool, fresh and easy to make. I found just what I was looking for at The Kitchn, Apartment Therapy's cooking blog. (Btw, Apartment Therapy is downright addicting and a really fascinating, fun and inspirational site - go now.) The recipe was for bún, a refreshing Vietnamese noodle dish that I had fallen in love with while in college in Worcester, MA, a city saturated with Vietnamese restaurants and shops. While I love the dish, I admit that I had forgotten how perfect it was for summer heat, and probably never would have attempted to make it on my own without a recipe.


It's extremely simple: a bed of vermicelli rice noodles piled high with raw leafy greens, herbs, cucumbers, bean sprouts and a protein (I used fried tofu), with a sweet tangy sauce of soy, lime and sugar.


While admittedly the boiling of the noodles and frying of the tofu required use of the stovetop, it literally lasted about 5 minutes, and was well worth a little sweat. This dish hit the spot with cold, sweet noodles and fresh crunchy produce from the farmer's market. GP and I made it several times and holed up in our one air-conditioned room to enjoy it.


But as I said, the heat has finally broken, and it's been raining for a couple of days. I did manage this before the sun disappeared:


because I wanted to do something 'summery' and go to the beach and eat seafood, my hatred of heat notwithstanding. So I'm a bit tender at the moment, treating myself with aloe outside and in. Tonight my co-workers and I headed to a newly renovated restaurant nearby, 49 Social, and I had the Cherry Bomb cocktail (cherry rum, aloe, lime and Thai basil). It was sour and tasty and the restaurant was very nice. I'll probably Yelp about it soon...


So that's all from me. I'm going to use this rain to my advantage and try some warmer dishes like udon noodle soup and a puffed pastry tart. Mmmmm.

Tuesday, July 19, 2011

In Defense of Jamie Oliver

So this is turning out to be my favorite birthday present that I received this year:


Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution Cookbook is straightforward, funny, quick and delicious! I also find it cute that you can tell the book was originally published in Britain, for Britons, because it's got recipes for a full monty breakfast. yorkshire pudding, and plenty of fish dishes and curries. Some recipes also call for Marmite, a purely British yeast-extract spread similar to the infamous Australian Vegemite. (Never heard of it? Then you must never have seen this.) Though we have yet to dive into the seriously-UK recipes, GP and I have really enjoyed cooking and eating all of the meals we've tried so far, namely:

Shrimp and Avocado with an Old-School Marie Rose Sauce
(weird ingredients, great taste)

Broccoli and Pesto Tagliatelle
(in this case extra penne and fettucine was substituted for tagliatelle)

and
Thai Green Curry

But last week we made my favorite recipe from the book so far. Not only was it simple, very healthy and uber-yum, it was just gorgeous to look at:

Italian Pan-Seared Tuna

What made it so pretty? The bursts of color from a package of Trader Joe's heirloom tomatoes. I just couldn't get over how visually appealing they were! I gave them their own photoshoot:


Just look at those fresh, fragrant, colorful ingredients. I had never eaten heirloom tomatoes before, and had only ever heard the term used by chefs and the most epicurean gourmets. But, having fallen in love with this rainbow of Solanum lycopersicum, I bought a bunch more at the Harvard Square Sunday farmer's market and can't wait to use them.
So thank you once again Jamie Oliver, for exposing me to new and delicious ingredients!! A big thank you also goes out to GP, who perfectly cooked the Albacore Tuna. I usually make him cook the meat. It may be a gender stereotype for the man to, well, 'man' the grill, but I'm a little overly-freaked out about the potential for food borne illness that comes from improperly handling and under cooking meat.

And while we're talking Jamie Oliver, I'd just like to make it clear (as if I haven't already) that I love his ideas and what he's doing to change the way the western world eats. We need someone loud and noticeable, with substantial resources to raise a stink and get people to eat well again. I'm bugged by people who write him off from both sides - on the one hand, people like the (fairly scripted) radio DJ from the first season of Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution, a red-faced, thick-necked West Virginia man who chomped on his takeout burger while telling Jamie he and his fellow townspeople didn't want to eat lettuce all the time. Jamie's reaction: *cockney accent* "I'm not gonna make you a lettuce!"

Then on the other hand, are the super-health foodists who think Jamie isn't helping overweight people enough, because he shows them how to cook skinless chicken breasts with olive oil, as opposed to encouraging them to pull a dietary 180 and become no-added-fat raw food vegans. (In all fairness, SoulVeggie does ask if this would be too drastic a transition and supports Jamie overall, but I'm sure his sentiments echo many uber-health eaters.) If both sides would just look at Jamie's website, read his cookbooks and learn about his campaign goals, I feel that they would understand him better and realize that their criticisms are unfounded. Jamie isn't pushing any particular health food agenda, and yes he uses mayonnaise and bacon in his recipes, but his overall goal, in his own words, is "saving lives by inspiring everyone to get back to basics and start cooking good food from scratch." He's trying to get people to stop eating processed crap and start eating real food. So while raw vegans may bemoan that he teaches kids how to make ice cream, he at least teaches them how to make it with sugar, milk, cream and fruit, not 57 artificial ingredients from unknown sources. And for those who are most comfortable with comfort food - Jamie's got burgers and pizza on the menu, but they're better for you and tastier, because they're full of veggies and encourage you to visit your local butcher and actually know where the meat comes from.

My problem is just that people jump to conclusions without looking into things (an earth-shattering revelation, I know), and in this instance, where there are so many people dedicating their time, money and goodwill to make all of us, and our kids in particular, healthier - why are you complaining?

Monday, July 4, 2011

Food on the Fourth

Happy Fourth of July!

I think the advent of the Fourth has finally reminded New England that it's summertime, because today the heat finally showed up - with a vengeance. I may just have felt it more because the boyfriend and I have not yet been able to install an AC. So what do I do on my day off right after I wake up in an 85 degree apartment? I preheat the oven to 400 because I'm going to make a pie.

You need pie on the Fourth of July - remember that apple pie has long been synonymous with America. But while I didn't make an apple pie, I made a peach berry pie to finally take advantage of the summer berry crop. Berries also tend to be another popular facet of Fourth of July eats, as shown by the ubiquitous American flag cake which cleverly arranges blueberries and strawberries (I wonder if France or England use the same berry color schemes for national celebrations?).


I modified this recipe, reducing the sugar and replacing the 3 cups of blueberries with about 2 cups of chopped white peaches and 1 cup of chopped strawberries. It's a long story, but I don't eat blueberries. Taste of Home is one of my varied sources for recipe ideas. I like that the recipes are both site- and user-generated, and that you can browse them by the hundreds using very specific criteria, i.e. healthy cooking, quick meals, vegetarian, eating for two, etc. While admittedly there are plenty of comfort food recipes that call for lots of mayo, sour cream, cream of whatever soup and 'processed cheese food', there are also plenty of healthier, whole food options that provide lighter takes on classics.

My peach berry pie is only the third pie I've ever made, and the first I've made where the filling didn't come in a can. I figured I'd go for broke and even make a lattice top. The result:

Not gorgeous, but not too shabby if I do say so myself. I'm eating it now and I'm very happy with it - it's not too sweet, the crust is flaky and it definitely gives me that 'mmmmm...pie' feeling. Now I actually didn't make the pie for any Fourth of July gathering. For the past few years the bf, GP, and I have gone to his family's annual cookout where there's always huge amounts of snacks, salads, grilled meats and plenty to drink. We went to that yesterday and, neither of us being very keen on crowds, have spent the Fourth puttering around the apartment, cooking, cleaning and working on weekend projects in between bouts of heat-induced catnaps.

And for dinner? I was planning on an Asian chicken salad of my own invention - lettuce, radishes, carrot, edamame, mandarin orange and chicken - but for some reason both packages of chicken I bought on Saturday from our local Trader Joe's smelled awfully like rotten eggs and had a strange white bubbly skin on them. Needless to say we tossed them both. As a side note, I absolutely love Trader Joe's, though ours tends to have a lackluster produce department, but I have never had a problem with their meat before. Not sure what happened. Anywho, we made a straight up 'Asian salad', incorporating some extra bok choy and scallions we had. We also modified a dressing recipe from The Good Housekeeping Cookbook and made it with soy sauce, sesame oil, rice vinegar, lime juice, ginger, sesame seeds and sriracha (rooster sauce). It was delicious and cool for a hot evening, and left plenty of room for PIE!


Well, that was my Fourth feast. I can hear the fireworks booming outside right now. What's your favorite Fourth of July food?

Saturday, July 2, 2011

I think I've found my passion

So here it is. The beginning of my honest attempt to keep a blog - something I promised a friend I would do, and something I have been wanting to do for some time. Why now? It could be that after 8 months in my new apartment, my interior decorating projects are coming to an end and I need a new focus. It could also be that it's July 3 and we're getting into the thick of summer with the promise of more time off work, more outings with friends and new summer flavors to explore and document.

And why food? Anyone who knows me will probably be surprised that I plan on making food the central theme of my blog, so allow me to explain. Last fall, I moved to Belmont, MA into the first place I could call 'my own', after an emotional roller coaster of a summer - fresh out of college, unemployed, living with the parents, then under-employed, moving out of state, living with the boyfriend's parents, then getting my dream entry-level job but living in a friend's closet with a 2 hour commute. As soon as I was settled, I decided to take advantage of the town library just down the street. I happily signed up for a card and checked out a book I had been meaning to read for a long time:


I knew nothing about The Omnivore's Dilemma, or about Michael Pollan, but I remembered my close friend and vegan roommate reading it while we were in college, and I was intrigued by the title and admired the rich colors of the cover photo. That's where it all began. This book opened my average-consumer eyes to the hidden world of industrial food production in the U.S., as well as to the varied food cultures that exist throughout the country. Nothing I had ever read previously had made me so equally appalled, enraged, intrigued and inspired. Appalled and enraged because I felt like I had been deceived; that the true stomach-churning origins of so many common commercial food items - beef, chicken, soda, salad dressing - had been hidden from me and most other consumers, the ones who trust that a chicken nugget is made with chicken, cornmeal and oil, and don't consider investigating the matter further. But I also felt intrigued, as I became desperate to explore this hidden world of food production and the disjointed food cultures of America's many diverse consumers.  I was also inspired to make a radical change in the way I approach food, and to encourage my loved ones to do the same.

Therefore, to ensure health and happiness, to respect nature and my body, and to reject the corrupt and inefficient industrial food system, I've now made it my goal to purchase and prepare real, whole, unprocessed and organic foods as much as possible. Okay, there's my crunchy statement. I've really never been an activist, and I've never waxed poetic about the environmental or health benefits of a vegetarian meal, but with all that I've learned, I'm really pissed off. Reading Michael Pollan's books and Eric Schlosser's classic Fast Food Nation, along with watching Food, Inc. and Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution, has proven to me that it is a social, political, economic, cultural, medical and environmental struggle to eat right in this country - and it shouldn't be that way. How sad is it that children these days are the first generation to have a shorter life expectancy than their parents? Or that 3 (#1, #2 and #7) of the top 10 leading causes of death in America are largely caused by poor diet? Something is seriously wrong, and I need to at least make it right for myself and my family, if not for everyone.

And making it right is fun and easy, and means you get to eat! To get away from frozen burritos and pizzas I've had to teach myself to cook. That has led to exploring and experimenting with different cuisines and ingredients, and that has led to my learning tons about cultures, traditions, nutrition, health benefits, cooking techniques, wines, restaurants, politics, science, farms, animals, plants, flavors, textures, the list goes on! I'm loving it. I have re-discovered food, its beauty, its mystery, its excitement, and all of the rippling effects of choosing what to put on your plate and in your body. Food is personal - its what keeps us alive, so we should celebrate it, share it, and frankly, not let anyone f*** it up (as unfortunately they have).

My new-found passion also excites and encourages me, as I am in that phase of life where I need to figure out what I want to do and who I want to be (not that either of those should ever be definitive). I've known for awhile that I want to go to law school and my interests and academics had been steering me toward immigration law. But now with this fire in my belly, I'm thinking that public health may be more my style. I'm eager to do whatever I can, for whomever I can, to represent the cause for responsible, sustainable policies and practices that safeguard and encourage a healthy populace.

So there you have it. For months I've been filled with mounting 'positive anger' as Jamie Oliver would say. I've attended a couple of food-related events and webinars, have begun networking with like-minded individuals, and have inundated myself with books, articles and documentaries, and I only want to do more. This blog will be a place for me to share how I progress with my food passion - what I'm reading, what I'm cooking, what I'm feeling - along with random posts about the interesting bits of my everyday life. I hope you'll enjoy reading!