...though, to be fair, when am I not thinking about food? ;)
    
In the past few days, I've come across some great sites I'm excited to explore. So I thought I'd share them - and some recipes, too!

I've been following a really interesting blog, Clean Plate, for a little while now, and today the author's post could have been written by me. In her efforts to change her eating habits, she examines the meals of her childhood - most of what she describes is exactly the same as my own experience: a meat, a starch, a vegetable. Most vegetables either frozen or from cans. Salads, on the occasions that there was one: iceberg lettuce and some industrial vegetables. A dessert after almost every dinner, usually Friendly's boxed ice cream. Very few fresh things. The same 10 meals over and over and over. That's just how it was, neither good nor bad, just reality.

Like the Clean Plate author, I've also found it difficult to overcome the limited menu I was raised on. There are so many foods - so many - I never ate as a child, due to the time constraints of my working parents, their limited kitchen skills (I'm certainly not judging!) and their own small personal menus. They weren't raised on a wide variety of foods, either. You make what you know.

Deciding to adopt a vegetarian diet definitely expanded my personal menu; you can only eat so many veggie burgers before you start to wonder what else is out there. And so I've become very open to eating new things. Luckily, Theseus is willing to indulge my mission to try nearly every (non-meat) food under the sun. Even more luckily, he's actually capable of cooking these foods. I don't know what I'd do without him. :)

Another interesting site I came across is Summer Tomato. Some of the author's posts give tips for things like breaking a sugar addiction or eating healthy on a budget, which is cool if you are looking for that sort of thing, but the posts I really love have to do with the great farmers markets she finds in San Francisco. She also has really great photographs of produce, the markets, the landscape... beautiful. I love photos of food. Can't wait to take photos of our garden this summer!!

Ok, so maybe foodie blogs are not your thing, but who can say no to recipes? Especially those that have photos of the food... yummm. Today I found some great stuff at the BBC's GoodFood. I appreciate that they have an easily accessable vegetarian section. Only kind of crappy thing - everything is in metric measurements (BBC = British Broadcasting Company).

Some of my favorites (based on how good they sound; I have not actually tried any of these recipes and likely won't try them until I have my master chef back from his deployment):

- Slow-roasted tomato & Gruyère tart: how can something this beautiful not also be delicious? Seriously. Click the link and look at the photo. Disgregard that it takes 3 hours to make this thing. It has to taste magical!

- Crispy Greek-style pie: this one actually doesn't sound all that hard to make. And for my non-veggie readers, there are instructions for adding chicken.

- Spicy roasted parsnip soup: Theseus hates making soup. Too bad. >:)

And finally, dessert!

- Pavlova: I have no idea what this would taste like. I'm sold on the photo alone.

Hurry up and get home, Theseus! I'm starving!!! :)

- Antiope

tree
1/31/2011 10:33:29 pm

i can honestly say that i am actually excited about cooking again
really
at first it was nice to have a break, but after the "chow hall experience" for the last "x" months and the lack of be able to cook
i think i might actually be missing it
hmmmmmmmmmmm
i'll get back to you on that thought after i have started again
but for now that is how i feel

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2/1/2011 09:05:58 am

I'm excited for you to cook, too! (if you couldn't tell) You aren't allowed to leave ever again. I'm chaining your foot to the oven. :D

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