Where I Come From

I’ve been ranting about food, mostly to my Man, quite frequently during the past few months.  First, I decided to eat less meat and become “flexitarian” (that is,  a semi-vegetarian diet involving the practice of eating mainly vegetarian food, but making occasional exceptions for social, pragmatic, cultural, or nutritional reasons–thanks Wikipedia!)  Some of my  (vegan/vegetarian) students pointed out that the way in which meat is derived for consumption in the US is really bad for the environment and contributes to global warming, nevermind the fact that daily consumption of meat isn’t necessary for a healthy diet.  More on that at GoVeg and ABC News.  There’s plenty of really great non-meat food out there, so I figured it was worth a try.

Meanwhile, not much has changed except that I frequently feel guilty that I haven’t changed any of my habits.  But I live with my parents and my motivation to actually cook has been minimal  until very recently.  My Man and I made a very tasty soup today with chicken stock (like I said…flexitarian…), fresh and frozen vegetables, egg noodles and two kinds of beans.  It was quite tasty, although I’d still like to add one more ingredient with some punch.  Sucessfully cooking something leaves me feeling so accomplished.   It’s also the perfect opportunity to shed some light on “where I’m coming from”.  My family is very ‘meat and potatoes’ oriented, which is fine I guess.  Often we have meals that don’t even have a vegetable.  We don’t eat beans.  Period.  Dad thinks we’re nuts for including cannoli and garbanzo beans.  Maybe we are :)  But its a frustrating conversation anyway.

So was the one about what kind of pizza to get.  I like pepperoni and sausage and the like.  Don’t get me wrong, I do like meat.  I just like to eat other things sometimes, I especially like vegetable pizza.  Again, I am clearly crazy.

My Man promises when we get married in June he will join me in my cooking ventures and I think we’re both very much looking forward to it (and being married in general).  Tonight’s contribution to the pizza discussion: “I want something meaty”.

Thanks, dear.

Well, how did I get here?

It’s funny how things work out.

I started this blog last week, hoping that I would stumble upon something worth reading and writing about without causing too much controversy or being too boring.  I love reading blogs and I love writing and I wanted to be part of the “blogosphere”.  But I had no real direction.

So…last night my sister, my Man and myself had settled down to watch Iron Chef America on the Food Network, as we do every week.  Pim was one of the judges for Battle Tomato (more about that later, possibly) to which I commented “I want to be a food blogger!”  My sister, always good for encouraging me in these foolish ventures, chimed in “You want to be Alex.”  Yes, yes I do.  So, with all due respect to Alex, who I have known for longer than either of us should confess to, and Pim, who does this for a living, here I am.

It should have occurred to me sooner.  For months I’ve been watching Food Network like its my job, looking up recipes, buying cookbooks, reading food blogs, trying to be more “flexitarian” (more about that later) and complaining about the food in my household.  I am so excited about this project.

So, to start this off right, I am reminded of what my 9th grade history teacher always used to say:

“If you don’t eat, you die.”

Not all adventures are well planned

In high school and college, I blogged frequently.  Dramatic, obtuse blog entries. Then I got over it and decided my life didn’t need to be all over the internet.

But that was years ago.

My plan is to mostly feature links, videos and quotes with some sort of commentary on them.  Hopefully rambling will be kept to a minimum and at the very least, be well thought out and intelligent.  We’ll see where it goes.  Enjoy.