Blog Reboot!

When I first conceived of this blog, I was a single woman who had just finished a Master’s in Sustainable Business, and very involved in various food-related organizations.  I also liked to cook.  I wanted to share how I cooked sustainably for myself as a party of one, and friends and family. 

Then life got busy.

I embarked on several branches of my career path – consulting, teaching, and writing educational programs.  I dated.  I started dating one person in particular.  I got married, had a child, and continued to work.  And cook.  (How do you think I got married?!)  So, what was once the Sustainable Food and the single girl morphed as life happened. 

Now I’m back.  I’m still cooking and fully committed to sustainability, but I had to refocus on what the term “sustainability” meant to me – and my family.  “Personal sustainability” took on a whole new meaning as I started to experience things like career ups and downs.  Moments of prosperity, and moments of austerity.  But one thing has been a focus – I love to eat.  And often I need to eat and cook within a budget; and the tighter the budget, the more planning I found I needed to do.  This will be the lens that this blog will start to take on – sustainable food planning on a budget.

I also am dismayed that it took SIX years to pick this blog back up.  I am recommitting to myself and to this blog to produce content.  My plan is once a week.  I figure if I state this commitment publicly on the internet, I am more likely to follow through.  So, I will focus on trying to update somewhere around Mondays.  (Maybe Sundays, maybe Tuesdays, but early in the week.)

Okay, so, with that, here we go!

Introductory Post

Few things that have shaped the many days of my life as love (or the pursuit thereof) and, importantly, FOOD. Food has gotten me through some very difficult and some very wonderful times. Food has been shared with family and friends and has just been enjoyed alone. Food has been sensual, nourishing, comforting, energizing, soothing, fueling, and always the perfect accompaniment to life. I cook often. I cook for those I love and to show my love. I cook when I know what to do and when I don't know what else to do. I cook for others and I cook for myself.

I know what you're saying: "ANOTHER food blog? How many of these can really populate the internet?!!" Well, sorta. As a woman in my *cough* 30's, I have led an adventurous life - frequently with a mate, mostly with friends, but always with myself. And during some recent conversations with some very good friends, we all agreed that pretty much every scenario in life has a wardrobe, a soundtrack and a menu. This blog while at times explore all three, will focus always explore the menu that goes along with my life. The layout will be in three sections. The first - a story in the life of, well - ME. The second will be why the menu fit, and the third will be how the foods in the menu are sustainable. The menu will either focus on dining out experiences, or have accompanying recipes. Either way, food will be my main lense.

Oh yes - and let's not forget the sustainability part. My passion is food. But it also focuses on how the food is cultivated and ends up on my plate. Fresh, organic, local, fair, nutritious - the way the earth intended for us to eat. Sustainable and conscious eating doesn't mean inaccessible or un-affordable. Quite the opposite. Conscious choices around eating means healthier community, healthier economy, healthier planet, and healthier you. Explaining some of the factors that go into my food choices to a friend one night, he said "don't you ever just eat for the taste?" Um, hello - are you new here? Have you just met me? (I was actually surprised since this friend has known me for well over a decade and been to many of my dinner parties.) I explained that conscious eating was less a sacrifice as much as it was more of a reward.

So, bear with me, relax and have fun.