As seen from the eyes of a foodie.
Last winter I really wanted to get dirty in the veggie garden, but since the ground was frozen, I limited myself to … sprouts!!! Broccoli sprouts, mung bean sprouts, daikon sprouts, the word of the day, er months, was Sprouts!
In April I celebrated two years of being factory-farmed-beef free (with the rare exception of being a guest in someone’s home, where it can get sort of out of hand if all the guests have various food “foibles”for hosts and hostesses to contend with. Michael Pollan even has a “food rule” about this. In my case, just don’t serve me fiddlehead ferns. The results are, shall we say, projectile. Which is sad, I used to like them, but I digress… But it certainly means I’d be immorally dictatorial to dictate foods hosts can serve me, if nothing else.)
Nearly all of the rest of my meat intake is now following the above policy, which is why I’m delving into learning more about vegetarian cooking. Okay, I have a weakness for Buffalo chicken wings, what can I say? Anyhow I get my beef, goat and lamb from Nancy’s farm in Virginia, and I buy pork and chicken locally.
I moved to bringing my own lunches to work late spring. Before I’d been doing it a little less than half the time. Now it is over 95% of the time. (I eat vegetarian or piscetarian when I don’t. Well, except for any aforementioned chicken wings.)
During last summer, I started this blog, and haven’t done sufficient to advertise it yet. However it’s encouraged me to spiff up food photography skills, for which digital is a blessing.
This is the second year of dedicated farmer’s marketeering. And my second year of freezing homemade tomato sauces for wintertime use.
Took a class in Indian cooking, detailed elsewhere in this blog: acquired a rack of new spices as a result.
In September I read The End of Overeating: Taking Control of the Insatiable American Appetite, by David A. Kessler. Decided to lose 34 pounds (which would get me to a nice number, MYOB). I still have some to go, but I’ll get there. I did the South Beach diet about four or five years ago, and lost weight that stayed off for over a year, so I figured to do something similar again. It’s low carb, which for a variety of reasons makes sense to me. I’m not as strict this time, so the weight is going away slower, but it is going away. I also walk a LOT on the job, and fortuitously one of the main elevators broke down shortly after I started the diet, so I made figurative lemonade and used the stairs willingly. I also began eating breakfast at home rather than at work. They have a full service cafeteria there. Portion control (and better food). Meant I was eating real eggs, too. I’ve started to do the low carb recipes on the Vegetarian forum swap on Recipezaar (and no, I don’t make recipes that use “faux food” — you know, the manufactured stuff that is supposed to taste like bacon, chicken or whatever. It doesn’t, and I can’t image how it could remotely be healthy.)
In December, I watched Food, Inc. Having read all this other stuff already, nothing was particularly a surprise to me, but seeing visuals helps to reinforce things. It made for a good discussion with a co-worker who happened to see the movie at about the same time, but I believe he’s lapsed back into whatever they’re serving in the cafeteria.
The whole dietary thing is a process, a journey, and not something where there should be, or even could be, any one given right way to eat. I’m not a preacher or a purist. I’m more of a discussion-oriented person.
Indeed, a purist would ask me about my dairy consumption — do I get my cheese from pastured cows? Very rarely; the price is out of my grasp. And my condiment collection? How many of those things contain high fructose corn syrup, plus a bunch of unpronouncible inclusions? Yes, less than before, but it’s still there. And I nuke my lunches at work when I want a hot meal (there is no other option if I want to bring in a hot meal).
So, anyhow, 2011 promises to be more of a voyage of discovery, a way of living that will never be purist, but certainly will be enjoyable. And that’s nutritious right there.
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About goatsandgreens
The foodie me: Low/no gluten, low sugars, lots of ethnic variety of foods. Seafood, offal, veggies. Farmers' markets. Cooking from scratch, and largely local.
The "future" me: I've now moved to my new home in rural western Massachusetts. I am raising chickens (for meat and for eggs) and planning for guinea fowl, Shetland sheep, and probably goats and/or alpaca. Possibly feeder pigs. Raising veggies and going solar.
Sea Vegetable
Of Goats and Greens 
2010 in Review
As seen from the eyes of a foodie.
Last winter I really wanted to get dirty in the veggie garden, but since the ground was frozen, I limited myself to … sprouts!!! Broccoli sprouts, mung bean sprouts, daikon sprouts, the word of the day, er months, was Sprouts!
In April I celebrated two years of being factory-farmed-beef free (with the rare exception of being a guest in someone’s home, where it can get sort of out of hand if all the guests have various food “foibles”for hosts and hostesses to contend with. Michael Pollan even has a “food rule” about this. In my case, just don’t serve me fiddlehead ferns. The results are, shall we say, projectile. Which is sad, I used to like them, but I digress… But it certainly means I’d be immorally dictatorial to dictate foods hosts can serve me, if nothing else.)
Nearly all of the rest of my meat intake is now following the above policy, which is why I’m delving into learning more about vegetarian cooking. Okay, I have a weakness for Buffalo chicken wings, what can I say? Anyhow I get my beef, goat and lamb from Nancy’s farm in Virginia, and I buy pork and chicken locally.
I moved to bringing my own lunches to work late spring. Before I’d been doing it a little less than half the time. Now it is over 95% of the time. (I eat vegetarian or piscetarian when I don’t. Well, except for any aforementioned chicken wings.)
During last summer, I started this blog, and haven’t done sufficient to advertise it yet. However it’s encouraged me to spiff up food photography skills, for which digital is a blessing.
This is the second year of dedicated farmer’s marketeering. And my second year of freezing homemade tomato sauces for wintertime use.
Took a class in Indian cooking, detailed elsewhere in this blog: acquired a rack of new spices as a result.
In September I read The End of Overeating: Taking Control of the Insatiable American Appetite, by David A. Kessler. Decided to lose 34 pounds (which would get me to a nice number, MYOB). I still have some to go, but I’ll get there. I did the South Beach diet about four or five years ago, and lost weight that stayed off for over a year, so I figured to do something similar again. It’s low carb, which for a variety of reasons makes sense to me. I’m not as strict this time, so the weight is going away slower, but it is going away. I also walk a LOT on the job, and fortuitously one of the main elevators broke down shortly after I started the diet, so I made figurative lemonade and used the stairs willingly. I also began eating breakfast at home rather than at work. They have a full service cafeteria there. Portion control (and better food). Meant I was eating real eggs, too. I’ve started to do the low carb recipes on the Vegetarian forum swap on Recipezaar (and no, I don’t make recipes that use “faux food” — you know, the manufactured stuff that is supposed to taste like bacon, chicken or whatever. It doesn’t, and I can’t image how it could remotely be healthy.)
In December, I watched Food, Inc. Having read all this other stuff already, nothing was particularly a surprise to me, but seeing visuals helps to reinforce things. It made for a good discussion with a co-worker who happened to see the movie at about the same time, but I believe he’s lapsed back into whatever they’re serving in the cafeteria.
The whole dietary thing is a process, a journey, and not something where there should be, or even could be, any one given right way to eat. I’m not a preacher or a purist. I’m more of a discussion-oriented person.
Indeed, a purist would ask me about my dairy consumption — do I get my cheese from pastured cows? Very rarely; the price is out of my grasp. And my condiment collection? How many of those things contain high fructose corn syrup, plus a bunch of unpronouncible inclusions? Yes, less than before, but it’s still there. And I nuke my lunches at work when I want a hot meal (there is no other option if I want to bring in a hot meal).
So, anyhow, 2011 promises to be more of a voyage of discovery, a way of living that will never be purist, but certainly will be enjoyable. And that’s nutritious right there.
Like this:
Related
About goatsandgreens
The foodie me: Low/no gluten, low sugars, lots of ethnic variety of foods. Seafood, offal, veggies. Farmers' markets. Cooking from scratch, and largely local. The "future" me: I've now moved to my new home in rural western Massachusetts. I am raising chickens (for meat and for eggs) and planning for guinea fowl, Shetland sheep, and probably goats and/or alpaca. Possibly feeder pigs. Raising veggies and going solar.