About

Hi! I’m Sarah.

Me in Moscow, January 2009

I’m a recent college grad trying to find my place in the world.

I am moving to Russia this fall. I love Russia! I was a Russian Studies major in college, and have visited three times. I lived there for 4 months in 2007, and can’t wait to go back. I am super excited to try cooking for myself with new and unfamiliar ingredients. I really like Russian cuisine, and have a ball in the groceries. When I (finally) get there, I can’t wait to see what path this blog will take. (Related fun fact: I was a vegetarian for 6 years–and an almost vegetarian for another 5 previous to that–until I studied abroad in Russia. Vegetarian diets are hard to maintain there, so I started eating meat, and haven’t looked back…)

One of my goals in creating this blog was to help me think about how to teach myself  to keep a happy, healthy balance in my life. That means taking time for myself, remembering to eat right, exercise, and have fun while I try to figure everything out.

I love food. I like playing with the flavors, textures, and colors on my plate. I like to try new things and invent new dishes. I also like to eat things that might not be so good for me…

As I hit the time in my life where metabolism slows down and stress goes up (I’m so happy the economy crashed right before graduation! Goodbye, job market!) I want to make sure that I teach myself healthy habits for life NOW and don’t have to play catch-up later. Especially since I believe in eating what you want, and eating “real” foods. If you crave ice cream, I say eat it. No fake butter or artificial sweetener for me! (When I do buy “low fat” versions of food–like sour cream–I always check that I can pronounce all the ingredients, and that it isn’t a weird Frankenfood.) This just means everything in moderation…

A couple random food facts?

Favorite Foods: ice cream, soup of all kinds, peanut butter, cucumbers, berries, mango, sour cream (I blame that one on the Russian diet)

I haven’t yet learned to love olives, mushrooms, artichokes, fish. If you can find me a killer new way for me to try them, I will. I wish I liked these foods better, and I’m going to keep trying. Don’t they say that you’ll learn to like a food after trying it 5 times? (It might take 50 for me ). But I refuse to give ketchup another chance. It’s gross. And, yes, I know I am only 1 of about 17 people in the world who feel that way.

Most importantly, here, I adore armadillos. That fact is probably critical to understanding me. (Or not…)

Cute!