Brunch: Fresh Farm Egg (from Tomales) omelet with oregano and feta cheese, and a whole wheat pita. I attempted a Jacques Pepin style omelet as witnessed two nights ago on Anthony Bourdain, but this ended up a little bit more like scrambled eggs after I lost patience with his method.

Today I had a day off – a little odd for a Wednesday, and truly made the most of it. I cleaned, I ate two point five home cooked meals, I *finally* went on a longish walk and enjoyed the sunshine, I sat in a cafe and drank iced masala chai, I got done more errands, and I made a tasty dinner. Oh, and I read an entire book.

This book:  Tony Hsieh’s ‘Delivering Happiness’ (pre-order it here on Amazon). I got an advanced copy after hearing Tim Ferriss and Kevin Rose discuss it on their random show. I’ve written more about how much I like it over on goodreads.com

Rather than sitting in my house all afternoon reading, I walked over to the Castro, and I sat down at Samovar tea lounge to get my read on. I ordered my favorite, their iced masala chai, which comes in this beauteous metal glass. And after a few minutes of reading, I glanced over to my left…. and there was Tim Ferriss (original recommend-er of book I was reading). I opted not to be crazy fan girl, and let him get his work done, but it was a pretty neat coincidence.

I briefly took a break in reading this afternoon to go on an errand to Target, where we saw this exercise in… art/patience/obsession – perhaps a college art project? Or just a lot of afternoons of boredom put to better use….

When we got home I was itching to finish my book, so I put together an easy dinner that I just made up on the fly – a sweet potato, caramelized onion with bacon, rosemary, and goat cheese bake. It was loosely inspired by my favorite pizza at Veggie Planet in Harvard Square – the ‘Lunch for Henry’ which along side their ‘Mexican bean’, I have dreams of on a regular basis.

I preheated the oven to 400 F, then sauteed half an onion in a little bit of olive oil and a slice of chopped bacon for about 10 minutes. I then layered some thinly sliced sweet potato in this foil lined pie plate. I layered in the onion mixture after it had started to brown, and then I crumbled on a few ounces of fresh goat cheese, topped with another layer of sweet potato, and then shaved on some parmigiano reggiano. I covered it with foil, baked it for 30 minutes, took off the foil, and baked it for another 15. It could have used another 10 minutes to get more crispy, but I was hungry, and it tasted sufficiently delicious.

Finally, if anyone is looking to buy real estate in my neighborhood (Noe Valley), I noticed this beauty up for grabs:

I’m sure it’s going for around 1.5 million.

Technorati Tags: anthony bourdain, delivering happiness, goat cheese, jacques pepin, noe valley, omelet, samovar, sweet potato, tim ferriss, zappos

If there is anyone I trust will give me simple healthy living advice and proffer easy recipes that turn out successfully every time, it’s Mark Bittman, the author of the New York Times food column ‘The Minimalist‘.  He has also penned two of my favorite cookbooks, ‘How to Cook Everything’ and ‘How to Cook Everything Vegetarian’, and most recently has written an informative book called “Food Matters” a look at “eating, personal and planetary health”.

‘Food Matters: A Guide to Conscious Eating (With more than 75 recipes)’, (buy on Amazon) is one of my go to books for leading a healthier lifestyle, and discusses with clarity the impact our diets have on the environment, the economy, and our own health.

Best of all, ‘Food Matters’ is written from a distinctly personal point of view: as a food writer for the New York Times, Mark Bittman loves to eat. Unfortunately, doing so without setting any boundaries for himself caused an imbalance in health and weight. In response, he decided to shift to a new approach to food, and after shedding thirty five pounds has done the inevitable: written an eco-conscious book about it. His own personal strategies included adopting a diet that is almost “vegan until dinner”, and advocates a shift to a much higher consumption rate of vegetables, fruits, and whole grains, and a reduction of meat and dairy products. Fortunately there is no sacrifice involved – Bittman’s recipes are flavorful, easy, and a positive addition to anyone’s diet, and best of all are as good for your wallet as your waistline.

In Food Matters, Bittman argues strongly for a general shift in diet to “Less-Meat-arianism”, and simply and clearly explains the science, policy, and economic influences on our diets.

He outlines the current flaws of meat production in this country, which along with large scale agriculture and absurd farm subsidies, are harmful to the environment, wildly inefficient, and contribute directly to global climate change. While many environmentalists advocate a switch to vegetarianism, Bittman understands that this isn’t a solution for everyone (himself included). He does advocate however to make conscious choices to both reduce the meat that we are eating and ensure that it (and most everything else we eat) comes from mostly local and sustainable sources, and from animals that are allowed to pasture, eat grass rather than corn (which they can not digest), and live a good life.

If as a society we make changes in the way we eat, even the smallest changes advocated in this book, we will make a significant impact in reducing our environmental impact, improving public health, and adopting new healthy cultural habits that will ensure the future of our society.

Unlike many of the so-called diet books out there, Bittman’s advice for a healthy every day diet is balanced, creative, and encourages positive shifts in lifestyle without any radical proclamations.

Food Matters: A Guide to Concsious Eating (With more than 75 recipes)
336 pages, published by Simon & Schuster
(buy on Amazon)

Some Other Great Books by Mark Bittman:

How to Cook Everything (buy on Amazon)
How to Cook Everything Vegetarian (buy on Amazon)

Technorati Tags: diet, environmentalism, food matters, healthy eating, mark bittman