Much love for Quinoa
Currently Reading
I love cookbooks, and most all books about food. Here are a few that I have enjoyed recently:
Closing the food Gap by Mark Winne talks about health, diet and poverty. Winne discusses strategies to make sure people who live in food desserts, without cars and far distances from supermarkets, and people who can’t afford expensive organics; all have equal access to healthy food.
Food Matters by Mark Bittman is very easy to read with some great recipe ideas. He inspired me to continue to try to eat more vegetables, fruits, whole grains and beans. In fact, I am putting my new pressure cooker to work and cooking lots of beans.
I think Alice Waters is inspiring. Her commitment to local and fresh ingredients lead her to start The edible schoolyard.
The Edible Schoolyard is a one-acre organic garden and kitchen classroom for urban public school students at Martin Luther King, Jr. Middle School in Berkeley, California. At ESY, students participate in all aspects of growing, harvesting, and preparing nutritious, seasonal produce. Classroom teachers and Edible Schoolyard educators integrate food systems concepts into the core curriculum. Students’ hands-on experience in the kitchen and garden fosters a deeper appreciation of how the natural world sustains us and promotes the environmental and social well-being of our school community.
I have The Green Kitchen from the library right now, it has great pictures and good basic instructions. You can watch a video project by Alice Waters here
We’ve been sailing.
Making Sanitation Sexy
Ever since reading The Blue Sweater, I follow Acumen Fund. Acumen Fund uses entrepreneurship to solve some of the world’s problems. They invest in small businesses around the world, who are providing critical services to those who need it. They invest in sustainable ventures that address health, housing, energy, water and agriculture,
They have also done some interesting work to inspiring the use of creativity to help make the world a better place. A search for the Obvious celebrates little things that have helped millions of people. This year they sponsored Make Sanitation Sexy competition.
We believe in the power of creativity to better the world. Instead of seeing problems, a creative mind sees obvious solutions. Look around you and you’ll find all sorts of solutions to problems that once seemed impossible.
Check out this video. It was the winner of their competition. Sanitation is something we take for granted, it’s not something that everyone has access to. This celebrates the connection between creativity and solving social problems. I appreciate being encouraged to creatively educate each other about what is happening in the world.
Dreaming of the Summertime Market
It’s icy, windy and we have two feet of snow in our yard. On day’s like today I like to dream of what life is like living in Holland in the Summer. It’s going to get me through the winter. This past summer we lived the dream on the weekends. We would start by visiting the Summertime Market.
I would eat Salt of the Earth‘s Seedy Salt Bread and Adam would get Palazzolo’s Gelato. And maybe a tasty treat made by Christine Ferris. Then we head to the beach and enjoy some swimming, reading and relaxing.
I am gearing up to do this a lot again next year. It makes Holland, Michigan worth it. Only 6 more months of winter to go! In the meantime I am trying not to think about the fact that there are places who don’t have to endure Michigan winters.
Food Fight
I was checking out The Edible Schoolyard and came across this trailer. More info here.
Untraditional Thanksgiving
This year we stayed home for Thanksgiving, focusing our efforts on relaxation and baking. Blueberry pie and sweet potato biscuits. Due to my recent Gwyneth Paltrow kick since she rocked it on Glee, I decided to try Goop’s thanksgiving recipe idea for Sweet Potato Biscuits. Successful day, beautiful pie, and oh yeah our cats met a puppy.
Food Focused
I love food. Over the past year my love for food has increased, and I have spent more time than ever cooking, baking, and reading about food. This past summer my life was changed for the better by my experience working at Groundswell farm. I began to read food blogs, and cook with friends who knew what they were doing. Suddenly I found a regular use for kale and squash and the CSA items that last year I had no clue how to use up. I also feel passionate about trying to live a healthy life. Eating healthy, exercising, being outside, walking to work, walking to the farmers market and eating local and organic. I am by no means an expert, but I would like to consider this blog my exploration of combining these two passions of food and health, and seeing where in life they lead me next.
Sunday Sailing
My mom, pictured here on the left, and Bob took us sailing last weekend on their brand new boat. They inspired all of us young folk by their passion to follow their dreams. They both love sailing, and recently they sold their house, bought a boat and are opening a charter business. So if you like to sail check out Sailing the Sunset. They live over on the east side of the state and are currently sailing around Michigan back to their home base on Lake St. Clair.
They laughed with/at me when I insisted we have a picture session for the sisterhood of the traveling panties on the boat. (clean minds people- we wear them on the OUTSIDE of our clothes) Mom, always up for adventure had them on first and it took Bob about 1 hour to notice anything had changed.
Small is Beautiful 