There is nothing like cooking a good meal for friends. On Sunday after I got home from yoga, I entered my kitchen and didn't leave until the guests were gone. I put on a little Miles and some Keb' Mo' and starting baking at about 2:00. Benefits to baking - it's therapeutic and it makes the house smell wonderfully good. We had homemade hummus, grilled steak and corn on the cob, a watermelon, feta, and tomato salad, and a fruit tart. Add some wine and some friends and a dog and a cat getting along (our cat, our friends' new dog) and it was a perfect way to end the weekend.

I felt creative, satisfied, full, and content after my day in the kitchen.

Victory! R.W. Knudsen's Recharge. Gartorade without the high-fructose corn syrup.

A friend of mine mentioned today that he went to Ben's Chili Bowl in DC for lunch, and it was the best lunch he'd had for a while. He had a half smoke and fries. I mentioned that I had been meaning to go there for quite some time. He looked at me and said, "What could you eat there?"

Many people know of my quest to eat only non-industrialized, non-processed, non-chemical foods, but they confuse the idea with that of eating "healthy". I do think about what I am putting into my body, but I will gladly eat a burger, fries, and a big ole piece of pie. I just need to know how the burger, fries, and pie were made, and where the products they were made with came from. As a matter of fact, the hubby and I made burgers tonight, on the grill, with a pat of butter mixed up in the middle of each burger. (I read about this trick recently and, other than the huge flames shooting of the grill from the butter, it was quite tasty.) Butter is good. It is always good. And I'm not talking about the fake stuff, like margarine.

I've been struggling with a foot injury for months and have not been able to run. About a year ago, I decided to start running regularly. I've tried off and on for years but never kept it up for very long. So when I made my decision last year, I decided to start running in the morning thinking it would be easier to do conisistantly at that time. I never thought of myself as the morning athletic type. I more of the tea and something to read type. Turned out, I loved it. There is something wonderful about being out at 5 a.m. in the dark making your body work like the machine it is, because that early in the morning it is all about the body and not about the mind. And no matter how little or far I run, the endorphins, or whatever that get flowing through my body, just give me a better outlook on the day.

So that was a year ago and since then I've been troubled with problems and injuries. About a week ago, after many visits to a rehab clinic, I started running again. It is as good as I remember, except for one thing - what to do about Gatorade?

It's August in DC. It's hot and muggy and disgusting, even at 5:00 a.m. Over this past year, I've retreated from processed foods. I've done a pretty good job, I think. But when it is hot and muggy, and I just went running, my body needs to replace salt and whatever else it loses on those hot runs. So I caved this morning and sucked down some high-fructose corn syrup that goes by the name of Gatorade. My body felt good, but my mind was dismayed. I confessed to my coworkers. I gave in to the industrial food system.

So now I am in the search of a natural sports replenishing drink. One coworker, who is the crazy-runner-type, logging 10 miles a day and several marathons a year, thought it would be hard to find, because, well, runners need lots of calories and you can't eat enough calories by natural means. One pack of Goo is a bit easier to handle during a long run than, say, five bananas. I'm sorry to say she may be right. I don't want to believe it, but I may have to. I intend to do more research.

I came across the following in this morning's New York Times Magazine:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/16/magazine/16FOB-wwln-t.html?_r=1&ref=magazine

This is something that I have discussed in secret with a few chosen people and never, never in public. Oddly enough, when I was at the doctor's office the other day, my doctor brought up the same thing. He just came out with it. I was at a rehab clinic for some PT-type work on my foot so that I can start running again and, completely off topic, he started a conversation about how he often gets asked what his solution is for the whole health care mess we are in. So I obliged and asked, "So, what is your solution to the health care problem?" "A fat tax," he said, "and a fine on those, like McDonalds, that promote unhealthy eating." In recanting this story to a co-worker, who knows the doctor, she asked if just came out with it...just like that... a fat tax.

Needless to say, with these two occurences this week, I feel like I can speak my mind in public now. I, too, believe that there ought to be some sort of tax on those that are, uh, taxing, our health care system. Or look at it this way, I eat healthily, I run, I do yoga so I am in fairly good shape. Why should I pay just as much for my health care as someone who is invariably going to end up with problems in the future due to the excess weight they are carrying?

This is it - my first post.

I was walking in my neighborhood the other night, and I saw this sign in someone's yard. I thought it was terrific. What a great way to green up the neighborhood and offer up some of the best stuff of summer - tomatoes! Mother Nature's perfect fast food.

I have been obsessed lately with food - real food. I confess that I've jumped on the Michael Pollan bandwagon. I read Omnivore's Dilemma and, though I knew some of what went on in our food industry, became horrified at what is being sold in this country as food. So now I am trying to quit processed food completely. I have a few things, like white rice and white flour, that will take me awhile to not use, but for the most part, I'm done with the whole fast food/processed food industry. Truthfully, it wasn't that hard. I've been migrating away from that stuff for years and taking up cooking four or five years ago has definitely helped. I even turned down a work provided lunch of pizza today. My leftovers from last night, grilled salmon burgers with a chipotle mayonnaise, were much tastier. I think originally my coworkers thought I was crazy, but I now have one convinced enough that she is going to try eating no processed food for a week. We will see how it goes.