I like the purple spots on baby lettuce leaves, the curling string tugged from a sugar snap pea, the way black bean skins crinkle and burst during a soak. The minutiae of food.
And I love to eat: browned crab cakes, the first fleshy Rainier cherries of the season, the carmelized skin of a golden carrot.
But I also like the subject of food, particularly as it relates to issues of fairness. What does “food” mean to people who work to get vegetables, fruits and grains to the places where we buy them?
During another time in my life, I traveled to bring health services to farm workers in rural Georgia several times a year. The experience led me to pay attention to harvesting conditions and how they affect people who pick what we eat. It’s one reason I’m an enthusiastic consumer of local food.
I like reading about food politics and history, agricultural practices, foraging, food lore, regional food customs and the kind of cookbooks with dreamy descriptions and sigh-worthy pictures.
When I’m not reading, writing or eating, I explore the community with my husband and kids, get my hands dirty in my little kitchen garden, read fiction, hike, dabble in poetry, throw rocks in the water and thank my lucky stars that I live in a conscious, breathtaking, openhearted town where people make good conversation, great food and find a lot in the world to laugh about.
I write regularly for ThurstonTalk and for The Co-op News, the bi-monthly newsletter of the Olympia Food Co-op. You can find out more about my writing on my Web site.
The Plum Palate started as a joint project with my friend, Chie, the go-to person in our circle of friends for recipes that not only highlight locally sourced produce but are beautiful and nourishing as well. Chie now contributes recipes to the blog when she’s not working, adventuring with her son or teaching classes through our local food co-op. Here’s a little bit about her:
My first experiences with food include working as a Japanese delicacy shop clerk and fish market monger. Before delving into food, my love of the outdoors took me cycling through Japan, rowing and sailing to Sooke, B.C., and backpacking in the Olympics.
A school-trained chef, I’ve worked as sous chef at the fine vegetarian restaurant Carmelita in Seattle, and as a tournant at Club XIX, a high end French-Californian restaurant in Pebble Beach.
Currently I’m The Nourishing Gourmet, a personal chef specializing in cooking meals for people with specific dietary needs. I offer private cooking instruction and knife sharpening and am a cooking instructor through the Olympia Food Co-op.
I spend most of my time outdoors enjoying the seasons. When indoors, I cook whatever creations come to me given the bounty of the season.
Natural healing, local foods, crafting, gardening, supportive community, live music, body movement, laughing, sharing and stories are some things I love in life. My curiosity about how to make things delectable and digestible is one of my most recent passions.
When not working, I’m reliving childhood with my imaginative six-year-old son, exploring the natural wonders of how things work.
