2012 Year of YES – and 2011 food lessons

Wow, another year has passed, and without any degrees or diplomas I am declaring:

2012 the year of YES!

yes we will get older, but also smarter, stronger, healthier.

Yes, we will make new friends, and have more fun!

yes there will be PEACE and forgiveness

yes we will occupy wall street….by shopping local and independent

yes we will find LOVE, yes we will keep LOVE, yes we will make love  yes, yes YES

I am only going to say NO once…..

there is NO 12.12.2012,

because December 12, 2012 is just another day of YES

YES – we will live…YES we will love….YES we will find peace, happiness and joy

YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES

The 2011 Lesson are as follows:

LESSON ONE

You can go home again.

you can always go home.

food will take you there.

scents of foods, sights of foods, memories of food, will, and can take you home in an instance……

yes close your eyes, you are there

LESSON TWO

Once you are home, don’t be afraid to change it.

Just cause grandma made it one way, doesn’t mean we can’t shake up the past.

Brussels sprouts on the pizza – yeah

Cranberries with raw chard – yeah yeah

it is still the holidays, all the players are here, just dressed up differently,

yes you can change

LESSON THREE: Eat out less

because really no matter how many times they reprint and redesign the food pyramid, restaurants aren’t changing any time soon.

too much protein, too few veggies, that is the restaurant rule guide…..

if you want more veggies, you are going to have to cook ’em.

yes you can cook, we will help you

LESSON FOUR  – the basics

all you need is good salt, good olive oil, good produce and the confidence to do as little as possible.

Let the ingredients shine on their own. The less you do, the better the food will be.

Also salt is not bad for you.

Super market center isles are bad for you.

Junk food is bad for you.

Pollution is bad for you.

Salt is essential for survival, it is a natural ingredient, and it is really the number one cooking mistake of the home cook.

If your food tastes bland, you are probably under salting.

However, different salts have different salt contents.

Kosher salt, is NOT salty.

at all.

So you are going to need a lot more of it.

Morton table salt……SALTY.

very salty.

Use less.

Gourmet sea salts, are all different strengths of saltiness, so you need to experiment to get the salt level just right. Incorrectly seasoned food will always taste bland.

yes salt is good – but learn how to use it

LESSON FIVE.. You eat what they eat….

you may eat them,

but really, you are eating what they are eating….

so what did the meat, that you eat, eat?

yes organic is worth it.

LESSON SIX. You must grow it.

Back yard, roof top, kitchen counter, doesn’t matter, just grow it.

Once you garden, you will appreciate how cheap organic vegetables actually are, because growing organic is hard work, that only fellow gardeners can appreciate.

yes, grow and eat more veggies please

LESSON SEVEN: What came first, the chicken or the egg?

Well that’s a lesson I don’t know  the answer to, but I can tell you this.

You need to raise your own flock of hens.

At least once.

Not just cause back yard eggs are so much better (they are) but, because once you realize it costs you $15 to raise a baby chick to a very scrawny  chicken, you really begin to wonder about that whole chicken you can buy at the market for $3.99.

cooked.

Do you still want to eat it?

please review lesson 4.

yes, it’s easy, and fun, to keep chickens

LESSON EIGTH. Busy buzzing bee’s in my own back yard tree’s?

Yes, because bee’s are really super fascinating.

I am not kidding.

The whole thing with the queen and the worker bee’s, and to watch them expand, and the making of honey, it is really totally awesome.

And you have not had honey ……..until you have had your own honey.

You just haven’t.

Honey with cheese, so delish

Honey with mustard, goes with every dish

Honey with soy, it is a real joy

yes busy as a bee is a good thing, and roof top bee hives totally rule if you don’t have a yard.

however, a friend of bee’s, never takes more than 10% of the honey harvest.

LESSON NINE. It is never too late:

to change your diet, to take a cooking class, to start a garden,

to learn new things, to make new friends, to try new foods

yes, you will like beets, brussels sprouts and kale.

yes you will.

you just have to learn how to prepare them.

LESSON TEN. Some things never change

I have said it before, I will say it again.

Nothing makes you fatter than eating fat free.

There is nothing “free” about fat free products.

Wanna be healthy,

don’t eat

wanna be foods.

eat t he real thing, or eat nothing at all.

Can you make it?

Can you grow it?

Do you know how they make it?

Then you can eat it.

TODAY’S QUESTION:

will you be my valentine?

all i want for christmas is LOVE …..

.