New Beginnings

Silly name for a post (a bit) but as September comes rolling in and vacation ends, school starts up again, the leaves change (although the "fall" season here in Minnesota is almost non-existant; we go from summer to winter in no time at all) and all that other fun stuff, it does seem to be a time of fresh starts and opportunities. Well, that's at least what I came away with after dragging my mother to the New Life Hiking Spa in Killington, VT (how I got past the name and much less suggested something so New Age-y is still a wonder to me, but I'm very happy we both went). Open your mind! And your stomach, which is what I did as soon as we pulled out of the spa, since salt, butter, oil, and caffeine were off-limits. Yikes.

So, in this new beginning, this new (and final) year of college as I try to figure out what it is I want to do when I wave the Twin Cities goodbye, I decided to start a blog to document that which I am unquestionably most passionate about: food. I love to play with ingredients and create variations of recipes, read cookbooks, go out to eat.... Many of my friends and family are self- proclaimed foodies as well, and it's not unusual for us to go on for hours about what our perfect meal would be. Of course, this can get pretty annoying to even the greatest devotee of the chickpea (or garbanzo, if you will), and often prompts a "Wow, you must be really hungry!" So, in an attempt to channel this unrequited love of mine, the Lilveggiepatch blog was created. (Lilveggiepatch herself has been around for quite some time, but that's an entirely different story.)

Another disclaimer: I've set an enormous (to me) goal for myself to begin long-distance running. I've hated and even dreaded the thought of working out for most of my life, so it's a huge challenge for me. I'm first going to start with a 5K, then 8K, 10K, half-marathon, etc., eventually (I hope) working my way up to the 2009 NYC Marathon. So we'll see. I'm going to try and boost my protein, limit my drinking of alcohol and caffeine (both of which are going to be pretty difficult given it's senior year...), take vitamins, and STRETCH. After the hiking spa, I was sore for the better part of a week and I felt as if I'd tried to smash coconuts with my thighs (and isn't that a pretty picture?).

I'll post my meals, snacks, workouts, and anything else that seems interesting... maybe some good ole RNC pics too!