I grew up in Birmingham, AL. Every Sunday as I was growing up my family piled in a big car and journeyed to my Granny and Poppy’s house in the county and had an extravagant southern dinner. Not extravagant fancy but an extravagant number of dishes. Dishes such as fried okra, creamed corn, cornbread and fresh cantelope, all from my Poppy’s one acre garden, were my meal of choice each and every Sunday. I don’t even remember deserts but I was a strange kid when it came to food. These Sunday dinners probably had an impact on my love of all things food and culinary, even though I didn’t know it at the time. I was young and took it all for granted.
Southern food is definitely in my blood and I love to prepare it. My southern style comes out more with veggies, deserts and baked good. When it come to meats I usually roast or grill and I have been know on more than one occasions to shovel a path to the grill in the winter.
I moved to Texas and got involved in restaurants. One of my best restaurant jobs was working for a restaurant called Baby Routh’s (the smaller version of Routh Street) that was the creation of Stephan Pyles. He has an impressive resume and I feel lucky to have represented his restaurant as a waitstaff employee. He is a pioneer in Texas cooking and his food is truly legendary. Let’s not forget to mention he is a nice guy. The only time I saw him rattled was when he was going out to speak with Jean Sutherland who was dining at Baby Routh.
My interest in food drove me into the field of nutrition. Sometimes I wonder why I did not go into culinary education but I think knowing how incredibly hard you have to work in a restaurant had something to do with that. Oh, let’s not forget the stress and how everyone wore their personality on their sleeve. The environment and people I will forever love and appreciate. It was honest, push yourself to the limit kind of work. I still think of getting back into it. However, I was more interested in the science side at the time for whatever reason. I now have a BS in Nutrition from the University of Texas at Austin. Hallelujah! However, I am not a dietition or a RD, but I could be a nutritionist because I have a degree but certifications and standards vary state by state. So maybe I am just a home ecologist with an emphasis on food and the biological processes of the body.
I have a deep interest in Mexican food and culture and dearly love traveling there. Oaxaco region is next. I would love to have some Spanish down by then. We’ll see how that goes. Texas is one of my favorite food places which is where my love for authentic Mexican and spicy food started. I don’t eat beef or pork but absolutely love BBQ. Stop laughing you BBQ aficionados. I am not against meat, I just don’t care for it. But when someone says “This is awesome” then I may have to try some. What are you going to do? Just sit and wonder?
I have a husband, a son, and a daughter who are all musicians but very different musically. They all love good food and eat almost anything. We have a crazy Naday conure, cats that range from goofy to mundane and fifty gallon fish tank that constantly reminds us of the cycle of life.
I have had a camera since I was 10 years old and have millions of pictures to prove it (maybe that’s an exaggeration). I am still taking pictures and believe in the camera more than post processing even though it is a great technology that amazing things can happen with. I just like taking pictures.
My nutritional mantra (since I have a nutrition degree I must have one right?!): Fiber, water, fresh fruits and veggies, whole grains, get up and move, reduce simple carbs as much as possible and still eat good food. Never underestimate the power behind dining with friends and family (or even people you don’t know). Moderation is key in all things related to eating and drinking.
There you have it, if anyone is actually interested, me in a nutshell. This was actually a therepeutic page for me to write because I haven't thought of many of these things for a while. In fact, this blog has actually made me think about quite a few things that I haven't given much introspection to. Something we should all do from time to time.
Contact: sweetsavoryplanet@gmail.com
You are an inspiration! And I love your site--thank you for sharing!
ReplyDeleteWhere have you gone?
ReplyDeleteHello anonymous! There is not a short answer to this question.
ReplyDeleteFirst, blogging takes a lot of time, more than I had anticipated. One must do many things well, like an overachiever kind of person. That is not me.
Second, A family conflict concerning my husband's mother, that I am very close to, who starting having health problems that included declining mental capabilities. One sibling did not agree with her mother's wishes and decided to litigate the will and challenge her mother's end of life wishes after diagnosis. The family rallied behind Mom's wishes and entered into a costly, financially and emotionally, battle that few involved really understood. (On that note, litigation within a family is catastrophic because once the trust and respect in a relationship is broken in this manner, there is resentment and it is like a bomb blew everything up and it is hard to find all the pieces, that is, if you actually want to. I know I don't.)
Third, I felt like sometimes I was rushing to post and when there was an error, I felt very bad. Nothing like someone trying your recipe and they don't work because of an overlooked ingredient or missing instruction. It didn't happen very often and I don't expect perfection, but the recipe should be true. I hate, hate trying a recipe online and it does not work because it is simply a bad recipe. There are too many of these in cyberspace and I don't want to contribute to this. It takes time to test a recipe. I want my readers to trust my blog.
Fourth, I needed to stop reading other blogs and comparing mine to theirs. My blog needs to be from my heart and soul, my take on cooking etc and not just a people pleaser. Sure I want to share and ultimately please anyone who reads my blog but not in a competitive way - it needs to be personally rewarding and without monetary expectations. Fifth, there is something very zen about cooking and toodling in the kitchen that I missed when I was recording every moment. It is therapy and joy for me, I want to share that but not at the expense of what I love about the process of cooking. I really enjoyed writing so I just need to find the "zen" balance between the two. Or rather three when you include the photography.
Sixth, I am a social networking retard. I am not as bad as some but I have gotten many a eye roll from my son. Does it matter that I remember when the internet was born or when computers had a whopping 20mbs of storage space? Yes, I played pong and didn't think much of it at the time because it was boring, but I loved Zelda.
Seventh, My husband and I were planning a trip to France and Italy and I was responsible for the itinerary for a month. Yikes! It turned out to be an awesome, incredible trip .
Eighth, My oven didn't work! I know it sounds like "my dog ate my homework" but seriously, I was so picky about replacing it that it took me over a year. I squeezed every last bit of life out of my profile GE, it was almost embarrassing. Almost.
There are more reasons and I could go on but it might sounds like whining. I totally intend to get back to SSP because I really enjoyed it, but on my own terms. We had jerk chicken last night with peas and rice. It was all very good but not postable, in my opinion. I love jerk spices but I need to find the right balance before posting. Add some acid and sweetness next time? I have to come to terms that I am never 100% happy. I am a tweeker at heart.
Thank you for asking Anonymous. I am still here just not in cyberspace, but will be soon.
Laura @ SSP