Monthly Archives: October 2012

On Being Local

It’s funny how easy it is to fall into an echo chamber—at least of sorts. I’ve heard so very much about Proposition 37 that I’ve about been driven ‘round the bend. I’ve heard so much about it that I felt compelled to spend a bunch of Saturday writing a post about it. And then I was surprised when Angelique, who occasionally acts as my editor, made a comment to me that there are probably lots of Proposition 37s on ballots this year, so I should be sure to specify “Illinois.” I wasn’t writing about Illinois. I was writing about California.

Oops.

While I have friends who don’t fall into any of these categories, my current “echo chamber” is mostly full of people who care deeply about food, farming, science and research.… Continue reading →

Greetings to The Bittens!

I want to welcome anyone who has wandered by from The Bitten Word’s Food Network Magazine Post today!

Of course, if you’re here, you started at The Apple Pumpkin Brown Betty and are now perusing the main page wondering what to read next. Please, allow me to make a couple suggestions.

How about checking out how close my friend Dylan was to a cow that time we bought a hog? Warning! There are both cute and sad photos in that post. Mostly cute ones.

I recently wrote about my freezer addiction. It was prompted, in part, by my friend, The Bachelor Cook. Mostly by finding the inventory of my food in her freezer.

Finally, in case you’re worried I do nothing serious here, please check out one of my favorite serious posts on gardening and self-sufficiency.… Continue reading →

Freezers, Bachelors and Food

Once upon a time, I was a totally normal person. I was in college. I went to my classes. I came home. I went out with friends. I ate at El Cam to study late at night. My freezer was very full of frozen veggies and microwave meals and such.

Ok. Maybe not totally normal. I suppose most college students’ freezers look a bit more like The Bachelor Cook’s freezer than my old college freezer. Booze and ice and air. I’m pretty sure you just can’t see that she’s got booze in there.

Anyway. My roommates and I always kept a reasonably well stocked fridge and freezer. And I was always a little frustrated at how little one can get into an above-fridge freezer. So you can imagine my delight when my late great-grandmother gave me her old upright.… Continue reading →

Some “get to know me” links

I just wanted to offer a quick welcome to anyone who finds their way over here from my guest post over at Michelle’s blog. I’m super glad you’re here, and I hope you enjoy your visit and find something to stick with you.

For my current readers, please go take a gander at my post there about leaving graduate school, and poke around Michelle’s blog a bit. She’s the When I Grow Up Coach, and she’s full of inspiration, fun, hard insights and conversation.

In any case, I thought it might nice to give share a few links that give a sense of who I am and what this blog is about.

The source of the chicken photo in the upper right. Learning about chickens on a farm.… Continue reading →

Welcome!

Welcome to the new MetaCookbook! It’s been hard work to redesign it into something beautiful, functional, and more representative of what MetaCookbook has become and where it and I are going.

This has gone from the shared internet space where Bill and I challenged ourselves to cook ~2500 recipes to my blog, somehow, to the space where I, Tasha, accidentally started learning how to cook by trying to cook ~2500 recipes. I haven’t yet hit 200, though I thought I had recently. Wishful thinking.

Recipes and learning to cook aside, though, I’ve had a lot to just plain say about food. So, I’ve said it. I’ve also started showing you how I’m winging it, on occasion. Bill and I are still in discussions about the challenge that started this all.… Continue reading →