In 6 days I start on a two-fold journey. The first step is literally moving 2,700 miles from New York to Arizona. The second step is changing my career from an Emergency Medical Technician to a First Grade Teacher. Both the school and apartment where I will spend the next 10 and 14 months respectively are sight unseen. When I go on adventures I like to really go all out. I can't wait to document the trip and setting up my first classroom.
Growing up on a dairy farm in New York all I knew was fresh country style home cooking. We milked our own cows, butchered them for meat, and grew the majority of our vegetables. Needless to say, I was pampered with fresh foods. This spring when I returned home after my year in Phoenix I decided to try my hand at pig farming. They were so much fun to raise, even when they would escape and end up in a pasture a half mile away eating grass with the cows. When I returned to school in late August my youngest sister was put in charge of caring for them. In a few weeks when the next cow goes to get butchered, Heidi and Abraham are going to go with them. Some think it's mean and heartless. I enjoy knowing where my food comes from and what it eats. No additives or preservatives.
After living on my own for 3 years I decided to venture across the country from New York to Arizona to go to school. Because I did not know anyone or have a job I figured it would be best to live in the dorms. Being 23 years old I was pretty much the oldest one in the dorm. Scratch that, I was the oldest person. My senior year of high school I had my gallbladder removed so my digestive system is sensitive to spicy, fatty, greasy, and dairy foods. All of those things are in pretty much every dish in a cafeteria. I somehow managed to make it through the year but also gained like 20 pounds because of the poorly prepared foods. Maybe its me, but I find it completely unnecessary to have vegetables sitting in a 1/2 inch of some sort of butter product laced with a gluten preservative so it stays in a liquified state. At the end of the year I vowed to get the smallest meal plan possible and cook in my dorm room.
This year my roommates are both gluten free. I'm not a gluten free by any means, despite the fact that my digestive system prefers it when I eat mostly gluten free. My "illegal" appliances include a sandwich/waffle maker and a crockpot. I'm not sure how I'm ever going to actually use the 130 meals this semester. I have learned to adapt recipes to make them gluten free so I can share with my roommates. I never really used my crockpot when I was living on my own and I'm not sure why because it is awesome! So this is my little bl |