About Life, Love, and Food

I seek the high road. At its heart, Life, Love, and Food is about writing. I need a place to write; I like to think of my blog as food for thought and a bite to eat. I write about food because it is essential to life, a medium through which we are all connected. Food is the lens through which I examine life in all its simplicities and complexities.

I find the middle ground. I believe in eating whole foods. I believe that when food is minimally processed and close to its natural state, it is food that is maximally nutritious—good for us and good for the earth. That being said, I realize that life isn’t perfect. Sometimes we just have to do the best we can with what we have. Not all of my meals would make a nutritionist smile, but eating well is a daily goal. I focus on eating plenty of whole grains, beans, nuts, fruits, and vegetables. I eat moderate amounts of dairy and eggs, preferring to use them as “accessory” ingredients to amp up the flavor, taste, and texture of my food.

I am 99.8% vegetarian. I love being a vegetarian! I was a vegetarian before I became a more serious home cook, so vegetarianism is my home turf. It’s rare that I miss meat, but I’m sympathetic to non-vegetarians who are trying to eat healthfully without giving up meat. I’m not an evangelist for vegetarianism—I don’t know that it’s the best choice for everyone. For some folks, not eating meat may always be too radical a change and therefore not a sustainable lifestyle. But I love it and I’m happy to discuss it with you if you are curious about my choices.

Although I am not a vegan, I do have a strong interest in vegan cooking beause I like the new textures and flavors that emerge in vegan cooking. Many of my recipes are vegan, and I have big plans to organize a vegan recipe index for Life, Love, and Food.

I take the low trail. My cooking is simple, homey, and good. I don’t have much interest in fancy food. I like to create dishes in which the flavors sing clearly and harmonize beautifully. Because my style is homey, I think my recipes tend to be accessible to people who are not experts in the kitchen—something that I think is very important in today’s America, a place where home and home-cooking seem to have lost their place in our hearts—or maybe just our schedules. In my mind, there is nothing better than coming home to my own kitchen. Preferably without a sink full of dirty dishes.

And finally, something soulful. I am simultaneously exhilarated and terrified by love. As in heart-pounding, swoony, soulful, romantic love. These days, by some odd twist of fate, I am both dating and in a serious relationship. I think romantic relationships are very interesting, so I write about love often. I like to think that my writing isn’t too sappy, but I am probably not the best judge of that! If you have a strong gag reflex, consider yourself warned!

Won’t you join me at my kitchen table for a cup of tea and some food gossip? It would be my pleasure.