This is me

I’m just not a big fan of writing an “About” section.  Of course, I love the “About” section of OTHER bloggers.  But I’m not so big on the personal reveal, and plus, it’s all so situational.  For example, how to describe myself?  Depends on the situation.  Neighborhood party? “We’re the ones in the brown house with the Australian shepherd, yes, that one, I know he got out a lot last year… yes, the woman chasing him down the street when she already had a broken toe…that was me.  Function at the kid’s school? “My husband Todd is over there, in the jeans, and we have a second-grade girl and little boy in kindergarten”.  Business event? “I’ve started a few companies, some made it, one didn’t, my current company provides rapid and effective due diligence for mergers and acquisitions, yada yada yada.”

I also like to cook, and wish I had more time to do it.  I began “cooking” when my mom went to work in the 80’s, we were the last family on the block to get a microwave, and I learned to heat up a frozen dinner which was much faster than sticking one in the oven.  I worked my way up to frozen bagels, and then real recipes, which I followed EXACTLY.  This felt right to my perfectionist nature and got good results, but really wasn’t much fun.  When we moved to Nashville I took a cooking class at Margot (a terrific local restaurant) and spent the whole time trying to write down precisely what Margot was adding to her saucepan – was that one squeeze of the lemon? About a quarter-cup white wine?  After Margot herself laughed at me I lightened up a bit and became more adventurous.  For example, I no longer measure wine and lemon into recipes.

I like diet books too – especially when they provide new and interesting information.  Atkins Diet in the 90’s?  Revolutionary!  Fat didn’t make you fat – good to know.  And carbs are bad.  Very bad.  South Beach Diet?  There are good carbs and bad carbs!  Sugar is bad.  Very bad.  And one of the most interesting – the Shangri-La Diet – this really works but is hard to say with a straight face – drinking sugar water or 1 tablespoon of oil one hour before eating curbs your appetite.  Seriously.  The science behind it is fascinating.  It was created by a Berkeley psychologist.  It is weird.  And hard to do.  And effective.

Anyway….. my husband (Todd, as noted above) is a book publisher and brought me home an advance reader copy (ARC to those in publishing) of Slimmer – The New Mediterranean Way To Lose Weight.  It was an international bestseller in Europe and has a charming picture of the author, Harry Papas, who lost 100 pounds and looks great.  It is also filled with easy and awesome Mediterranean recipes.  And it has lots of interesting science behind the eating plan, from why it is important to eat acidic foods (lemon, balsamic vinegar) with your meal, to how low-fat dairy increases metabolism.  I sent a recipe I liked to a friend, suggesting, insisting, she try it.  A week later?  Nothing.  So I took a picture of that day’s dinner recipe and messaged it to her instead.  She tried it the next day.  Ah, the internet.

So I’m starting this blog to share pictures of food from this book and other Mediterranean dishes.  I hope you like it, and if you buy the book, let me know what you think.

Jen