The End of an Era

Culinary Distractions has moved! 

 

Please visit us at our new home http://culinary-distractions.com/





A Facelift!

Hello, again. I’ve been gone too long from this space, and much like a separation between old friends, something valuable was missing in my life. 

For the past several months my energies and focus have been dedicated to ongoing studies at the University of Oregon. It is a very exciting time at UO because we are in the early stages of formulating a food program which will be uniquely Oregon in scope and will include a strong humanities component.  After long viewing food studies options in New York, California, the mid-west, and elsewhere, it’s still difficult to believe a high caliber resource may actually spring forth right here! 

It’s good to be back on these pages again.  There were been plenty of times when I  wanted to share thoughts and ideas rumbling in my mind, but deadlines and projects always loomed larger and took precedent.  One of my early tasks here is to clean up the ole blog space; it has been a while since my last revision.  In the spirit of a simpler format, as many of my fellow food bloggers are discovering, a much needed index is in the works to assist in locating buried recipes and resources. 

The composition of the blog is shifting, too.  Anyone who may have followed this space in the past knows that the focus was primarily recipe driven by my ‘fiestas and fiascoes from the food fringe’.  No doubt the fiestas and fiascoes will continue, since they are unavoidably too much a part of me to deny!

 

However, the new blog tag refers to a composium of food and culture. Right.  If the word is unfamiliar, it is because it is does not formally exist: it is not in the dictionary.  Thus, I am claiming composium to describe my blog as a collection of writings in various content, styles, and formats. 

That pretty much says it all. 

Right Turn on Menu of Life

This post is a quick statement to say I am back and couldn’t be happier!  I have deeply missed my blog time and hopefully my new schedule will once again permit regular posting.  

   

Part of my delay in returning to my beloved blog has been due to a little soul searching on my part. I wanted to redefine my purpose here so that this space remains meaningful.  My current needs and demands have caused a shift away from my obsessive tinkering and playing in the kitchen to a fairly uninteresting and repetitious cooking regimen, with little worthy of reporting.

Since I love cooking so much, I suspect this will all get sorted out.  In the meantime, I hope to continue writing about food but not necessarily focused on kitchen antics.  My intentions are to keep writing about the fascinating world of food – and take a look at other aspects that catch my eye.  We’ll see what develops...

The friendly gourmet ant is visiting from a great photo resource http://www.istockphoto.com/. 

Relocation Fixation

One year, two moves, 3,000 miles later and I'm back!

A re-location to Greenville, South Carolina seemed like a terrific opportunity and I was right. New surrounds, new friends, and efforts to support the Sustainable Ag movement was thrilling and distracting, posting here shifted to low priority.

This spring an unexpected series of events surfaced and in mid-May I re-valuated, minimized my life, re-packed my van, and ventured west on a life altering trip across the US with a return to Oregon and family.

Too much infomation for now, but enough to say there is a vibrant thread from those days still running through me, evident in a deepening thoughtfulness and appreciation for my daily food supply - with all that entails.

Very early this morning, in twilight thought, I realized how much has happened - and continues to play out each and every day. I'm guilty of not fully acknowledging these times and for not placing more importance on the simplest pleasures. It's a little late for regrets, the immediacy of the moment is lost, but there's a great likelihood that there will be more to come and more to share.

"Take the time to give each task its due -
it comes out in the food: a generosity of spirit.
Call it rejoicing, tenderness, graciousness,
or simple attention to detail,
the quality of caring
is an ingredient everyone can taste." - Tenzo Kyonkun

The Starting Place

This is my uno numero post and I'm trusting that it will become easier as I move along.

To begin, I'll confess that broadcasting my culinary experiences as well as my successes and failures in the kitchen is a stretch and definitely out of my comfort zone. Inwardly I'm asking, "What am I doing!? Why bother?" Of course the answer back is, "Because you need to."

Yes, this blog is titled accurately (...and with humor), I'm hoping that my undisputed love and commitment to the culinary realm will provide me with the impetus and discipline to keep it relevant - and regular.

One of my favorite quotes:

"Whatever you can do, or dream you can do, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and has magic it it." - Goethe

Perhaps more answers will come.