Read This Book

If you haven't already had the pleasure, then check out "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle" by Barbara Kingsolver. I'm a huge fan of her writing and have been for years. So when I finally picked this gem up, it's been an eye-opening read. I'm not even finished the book and I'm giving it two big, green thumbs up.

Basically, Kingsolver and her family decided to leave their Arizona life behind, move into their Appalachian farmhouse and live in a purely sustainable and local way for a year. Within the pages of her family's story are woven essays about agricultural woes, environmental impacts, and even the views of her husband and oldest daughter.

Kingsolver writes with an attention to detail that effectively places you at the scene of every description, to the point of being able to smell and hear what she's describing. It's a departure from the fiction of hers that I'm used to reading, but it's a journey that is well worth the time. Read it and enjoy.

xo
V

A fistful of carrots.

I know, I know. Yet another food blog in the already glutted Web world of food blogs. I don't fancy myself a "foodie," nor a gourmet by any means. I just know that I love good food, and I am a vegetarian, and it's here that I intend to explore making vegetarian food that goes beyond a standard restaurant's offering of salad or grilled portabello burgers. Not that there's anything wrong with those. There's just so much more, you see.

I haven't always been a vegetarian. In fact, I only stopped eating seafood a year ago. And before that I had been eating red meat and white meat and seafood, or going veg for a few years and then being seduced by smoked chicken. I even went raw vegan for 30 days to try it.

The thing is, my body and my mind are just happier eating veg. I even love the raw vegan food. And I'm not a soapbox vegetarian--if you want to explore the environmental impact our meat industries have on the planet, go ahead. If you want to investigate the cruelty to animals, you can go to www.meetyourmeat.org and be as horrified as I was.

I love good food. I can thank my brother, an amazing chef, for introducing my palate to new and exciting tastes as a young kid. So I like diversity in my food. And for a vegetarian, especially one living in the South, there aren't often a lot of options when dining out. And since I love cooking, I figured I should stop whining about the lack of options and make my own. When I do find great spots to eat veg, I'll praise them here.

So, welcome. I'm going to assume that the only person reading this is myself. Luckily, blogging is one of the ways you can get away with talking to yourself without risking a dose of Thorazine.

Happy eating,

Victoria