I love to cook. Am obsessed with food. I really am. I admit it. Always have been. Obsessively tried every healthy diet there is, fervently read cookbooks, food magazines, researching recipes online, love watching cooking shows, could spend all day in a supermarket, only purchase organic produce, religiously shop at the local farmers market. (Very important to know where my food comes from.), only like to support restaurants/chefs that use seasonal, local, organic food and will travel to an obscure gourmet food shop to purchase one ingredient. Some would say I’m a bit of a food snob. Well, I am. An organic food snob. But I would also say it’s a passion. A passion to create and experience wonderful delicious bountiful meals.
Choosing what to make is the hardest thing. Makes me crazy. My OCD perfectionism comes out in full swing. All those wonderful options, choices, gotta make the perfect decision... In the kitchen I am in heaven. At peace. Happy. Creative. Expressive. I love it. I only cook healthy stuff. I forgot to mention that. Been into the healthy side of food for the past 10 years. Before that I was a whisky drinking, pill popping, baguette and Brie eating depressed young girl writing poetry and living in a warped dreamland of Hollywood thinking I was Dorothy Parker. You get the picture. It all came crashing down when I found out I was hypoglycemic. Oh yes and I had Candida. SO I did like any obsessive foodie does, I became fascinated with what I could and could not eat and got healthy. Through experimenting with different foods I began to make the connection between what I was eating and how it directly affected how I was feeling. With the limited food I was able to eat, I began creating recipes that where tasty--ish. The diet was extremely limited (anyone who has done the Candia diet knows) I did it for a year. I know. But I felt better and it seemed to rebuild my system. However my diet was bland and boring. I couldn’t eat this way for the rest of my life!!
Shortly thereafter I meet a raw food vegan who introduced me to his lifestyle. Juicing. Soaking nuts and seeds, avocados, fruits, coconuts – the complete opposite to what I was eating. So again I did like all good foodies and I became completely obsessed. I got to a point where I almost threw out my stove and I even vowed never to eat cooked food again. I was a raw fool. Making pies, pâtés, everything raw. I felt high on life. (Later I realized I was just high on all the sugar from the fruit and dried fruit and maple syrup -- yes this was back in the day when agave wasn’t all the rage). Oh yes and one more thing. Well two. I looked like shit. (at the time I was in denial) My skin was horrible (covered with red little irrated bumps), I had a grayish hue to my skin and I lost my period for 1 ½ years. Nobody openly talks about this and the raw and/or reformed raw women that I have spoken with all share the same imbalance. (The hardcore raw community thinks it means you’re clean and pure – I’m sorry but that is insane. I later understood it’s a loud wake up call for you to eat some meat darling. Some blood. Not regularly. Just when the need arises.) My naturopathic doctor and gynecologist were begging me to eat some meat. I refused, then tried, then cried. I just couldn’t bring myself to cook it, let alone eat it. Then one night, a full moon I believe, I was out to dinner with my family and I order the organic lamb. Everyone almost fell out of their chairs in shock. It came. I had a bite. I immediately felt the blood rush to my cheeks and my uterus. I’m not kidding. And it was delicious. I ate the whole thing and enjoyed every last bite. Many moons later I finally, in conjunction with other natural remedies, got my period. Now I eat organic meat when I crave it. About once a month. I view it as medicine.
Alright where was I, oh yes, so I’m in NYC and raw. I was eating at one of my favorite vegan restaurants (at the time) and I came across a flyer for a vegetarian cooking school called The Natural Gourmet Cookery School. They had a 6 month chef training program. I signed up immediately. (This is what really broke my raw diet; all the freaking soy products: tofu and tempeh and soy milk oh my!) I learned some good things. It was a great experience but preferred cooking in my own kitchen. In my own style without all the soy. Alone. I even created, distributed and sold my own line of nut milk ice creams. (I started with Almond milk ice cream, then went to Hemp milk. Now I do pistachio and hazelnut. Yum!) After graduating I began to experiment cooking and un-cooking gourmet vegan meals for my friends and family. Going through my own food journey’s I became a crazy food detective. If I was eating with someone and they got tired or their nose immediately became stuffed or they broke out in hives I knew it had to be from what they just put in their mouth. This was definitely the case with my husband. When I met him he was a skinny little vegan with a greenish hue to his skin. Now he’s a big burly man. I’m kidding. But he looks wonderful and is much healthier. When we first started living together I was cooking mostly macrobiotically and baking up a storm. My flours of choice were whole grain spelt, barley and oats. I began to notice that he would get tired, sometimes even fall asleep, after he ate my food. I finally convinced him to get a food allergy test. He reluctantly went to the doctor. We learned he was extremely gluten intolerant. Not celiac thankfully but if he continued eating this way he could very well become ill. I realized I was slowly killing him with my loving foods.
And so now, 6 years later and after innumerable gluten free recipes, here I am in the land of the blog documenting my seasonal, organic, biodynamic, local, rustic, dairy-free, mostly vegan (with the exception of eggs & a wee bit of goat cheese :), sometimes even haute cuisine creations. According to my husband, family and friends I “cook real good”. Hope you enjoy!
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