So.

What have I been doing this week to improve my food. Hmm... I spent a lot of time reading the past archives of Jennifer McCann's Vegan Lunch Box. All the way from 2005 to the present time. I took a look at her newer blog, but I'm not so drawn to that one. What do I like about Vegan Lunch Box? First it's a touching record of loving care for her son, the little Schmoo, on a day-to-day basis, and by extension, her devoted readers. Second, not a lot of repeats. Some things repeated, like blanched vegetables, nuts, pretzels, but not the central food item. So it's a gold mine for nutritious lunch plans. I got sidetracked on a quest for bento box sets and the like, but in the end, rejected them. That's not quite my style, anyway. I'm a washed-plastic-baggie, former salsa jar, recycled margarine tub kind of lunch packer, in a little plastic cooler I've had for close to 20 years. I don't want to have to buy a matching, carefully tailored insulated cold-pack tote. I'd rather make some large ice cubes frozen in plastic cups I kept from the water machine while shopping at Whole Foods, and toss them in my cooler with the stuff.

However, have I done any of those things? Lately? No. Because I'm generally home for lunch. But maybe I should pack a lunch anyway. First, because now that the weather is warm, I could picnic or something nice. But mostly because I'd have a calorie-controlled finite nutritious meal, something defined, other than the current open-the-fridge graze-a-thon experience. Plus it would be an opportunity to express gratitude and love for myself and my providing abilities. Ala Louise Hay. That makes me cringe a little bit, but I'm trying it on.

Also in Food News, I checked out Aldi, a recent grocery chain to my area. I brought back a lot of food, especially produce. A big pack of fresh strawberries, a buck. Likewise, fresh button mushrooms, a buck. A 3-pack of pears, likewise. A baggie of frozen berries, $1.89. Cans of beans, 59c, etc. Prices were like when I got my first apartment, in the 80s. I think I like Aldi.

I hunted up 3-5 new food blogs (most of them are complete, but there's a lot of material to get through) to watch, and fantasized about sharing nice food with friends while garage saling.
And I'm knitting up a bunch more kitchen scrubbies (one of the best uses for Red Heart supersaver yarn) in preparation.

Hello out there

Hey! It's a blog.
I created this blog to learn more about food. In particular, vegetarian/vegan food. I became a vegetarian in 2003, but I think I could go further. Not sure I have the strength of character to become a full-time vegan, although I would like to, for health reasons. Plus I'd like to hobnob with all those vegan blogsters out there whose work I so enjoy. I've got their cookbooks.

I would also like to write about gardening. I'm off and on about gardening, and would like to be more "on". Giving into fits of laze here in the intense Texas summers, suddenly everything is dead. Oops. I once threw myself into wholesale land clearing in my back yard, but then developed a back yard full of poison ivy and a condition that left me miserable for nearly two months. I approach the upcoming war with trepidation. That stuff has got to go. But without herbicide, won't risk my many trees.

I have a top secret quilting related project I've been working on since the 1980s. All this time I've been expecting some intrepid author to discover and exploit my design techniques, but it's never happened. So I'm gonna have to write the darn book myself. There's a lot to write about! Could you believe there's still copious material untouched in the vast quilting book industry? I assure you there is.

I'm also a knitter. Not of renown.

I guess I approach blogs as projects wherein I have an audience. Hopefully. Which helps motivate me to putter faster. And I promise to be brief, whenever possible!