awkward!

as i may have mentioned before, i am in a book club! this month our book is the glass castle by jeannette walls. i picked up the book from the library and have been carrying it around for a few weeks and i have not even had time to crack it open!! well book club is coming up so i decided i better get going! so the other day i opened it for the first time on the metro and started to read....halfway through page one i realized......IVE READ THIS BOOK BEFORE!! hahah how awkward!! i am pretty much known for this type of thing. i am famous for sitting down to a movie and halfway through realizing ive already seen it (yep, halfway...im that bad) and now apparently i do the same thing with books! not only did i not remember reading it because maybe its a book from way in my past or something...you know, an acceptable amount of time to forget something, like maybe in high school or something....NOOOPE. i read it just LAST YEAR! right when i realized this i called my friend (who is also in the book club) and told her of my revelation and she goes, "oh crazy, but how did you like it??" i was like..."omg its AMAZING!! so great!! i talked it up nonstop after i read it!" shes like.."really? because you didnt even remember reading it. title didnt spark anything. the author either. sounds like you really loved it!" haha omg i swear..its SUCH a good book, i just have memory issues, i guess...maybe i should get that checked out! ha! seriously though, its so good that i thought since id already read it, i could just skip this month...but since i already had it with me, i started reading it again...and now i CANT STOP!! im already half-way through in two days of metro rides! anyway, my review is: read this book! and even if youve already read it and forgotten it completely like me, read it again!! its worth it :)

HAPPY FRIDAY PEOPLE!! xoxo

times they are a changin'

as some of you may remember from my skinny bitch post, i have sort of taken a new approach to the way i eat. well, i have decided to include some of my new way of life into my blog so i can share it with those who are interested :) there have been a few things that have influenced me and have helped me a lot in my little food journey. first and foremost was going to spain last year. living in spain forced me to eat a million things that i would have never eaten in my life (meats, fish, seafood, tons of salad, different kinds of fruits and veggies, a variety of soups, etc). pretty much my whole life ive been suuuper picky and pretty limited in what i ate. but living with a spanish mama that did not understand the words "i dont like it" made me change pretty quickly!! while i was there, i also developed an interest in cooking...totally new to me! when i lived on my own for the first time in college i could count the number of times on one hand that i had warm food in a week...i only ate things like cereal, yogurt, turkey, crackers...cold things that didnt need cooking or even preparing. my dad is a chef and my mom is also an AMAZING cook, so i really did not have any real need to cook because both my parents were so great at it...and when they didnt cook, my sister gladly (most of the time) stepped in to make me something! so i guess what we can take from this is i was definitely a spoiled brat when it came to food!! that aside, spain changed me and i got the cooking bug! i often watched/helped my spanish mama cook and and took notes on her recipes and ingredients. we went shopping together a lot and to different outdoor markets and it was so fun! i also took note of the way she cooked and planned...she made big batches of many things at a time and then froze them in portions--which is genius and something i do allll the time now. my mom gets offended by this though because apparently this is how she cooks too (and did do my entire life)...but i guess i never noticed so i gave credit to my spanish mama....uh oh mama drama!! haha! anyway, when i came back to the states i started my new life of cooking and i really liked it!! i discovered that i actually like to follow a recipe and try new things (my new roommates thought i was like susie homemaker!! haha little did they know i was a total poser!). the next thing that shifted my interest in food and nutrition was my friend over at cooking with kate (check out her blog, she is amazing and i love her!!) who started a food blog and thus introduced me to the crazy world of food blogging! i have learned about soooo many cool new ingredients and interesting recipes from the food blogs, which has helped to keep things exciting and fresh as i started this healthy/different eating kick! lastly, i have been reading books like skinny bitch (ignore the name and read it, it will change your life!!) and fast food nation, researching online, watching the food network, randomly trying new ingredients, tapping into my inner chef, which my dad tells me is innate....oh yeah and calling my mom millions of times. all of those things combined have influenced a lot of my food-related decisions and have really changed the way i eat!

anyway, that was just a little intro into me, so now from time to time ill tell you whats going on in my food world with any new ingredients or new recipes that i try so you can try (and enjoy!) them too!! until next time......

skinny bitch

hello hello! i just started reading the book skinny bitch by rory freedman and kim barnouin and so far, its pretty darn good! it is written in a really rude in-your-face way...which sounds irritating, but is actually really funny! its all about nutrition, myths about diets and food, and recommendations for a healthy lifestyle. so far its really interesting and im learning a lot! some of the stuff they say, i will take with a grain of salt...ie. they say that drinking coffee is a disgusting habit and i should chuck it in favor of green tea...while this may be true...it is nooot going to happen for obvious reasons (ie the thirst). also their hatred for meat...while i dont love meat, i wont give it up completely! BUT they do make many other really good points, for example: aspartame. they have a big long section on aspartame and the history of how it came to be in our food and drinks...and i have to tell you: its SICK!! this product was sooooo controversial and failed to pass FDA standards EIGHT times until it was finally approved and even then it was surrounded by a storm of scandal! its all about money and its just not ok. i have heard a million times before that aspartame is awful for you and can cause cancer and all and i have gone back and forth with whether or not to consume it...but now im DEF back to NOT. there are other non-sugar sweeteners (agave nectar or stevia for example) or i would rather just eat real sugar...because aspartame is just bad news.

anyway, ill keep you posted on any more interesting tidbits from the book....have a good one!!

what the?

my new favorite thing to say: what the? i got it from our last book club book, extremely loud and incredibly close by Jonathan Safran Foer. one of the first chapters is called "what the" and its all about this kid who says and does totally bizarre things and says everyone is probably thinking, what the? and then when he hears weird things or something he doesnt understand hes always saying, what the? haha its so cute!! so now i started it and its my new favorite thing!! so if you want to be in with the cool new slang...start using it asap!!