There have been a lot of conversations around here about our menu for Saturday and then, subsequently around this book called The Omnivore's Dilemma. It sounds fascinating - the author theorizes why Americans eat the way they do today, based on historical changes in agriculture and FDA changes in process and regulations, etc. Basically, what it comes down to is that anything our grandparents can't identify by simply looking at it is probably not something we should be eating (i.e. Doritos, mayyyybe french fries, but even that was questionable). It's about identifying food in it's natural state rather than in this over-processed, over-preserved state. Sounds interesting and it's definitely going on my list. There are a few others here that I recommend checking out and I know I currently own some of them, but I'm just taking my time getting around to reading them, I swear. :-)

My current reading list:

1. The Omnivore's Dilemma

2. In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto

3. Groundswell - Winning in World Transformed by Social Technologies - [super-geeky-social media book; sorry if this isn't your cup of tea]

My Christmas reading list - books I feel the need to read every Christmas season just because I love them so much:

1. The Battle for Christmas

2. The Christmas Box; Timepiece; The Letter

3. Skipping Christmas [The movie rendition was horrific - read the book.]

4. Winterdance: The Fine Madness of Running the Iditarod [Not a Christmas book, but ideal for putting you in the mood to laugh at the absurdity of winter and running a dog race in the middle of it, in Alaska!]

Enjoy!

In other news, the tour of Hale Farm and Village this evening was pretty interesting. The year of choice this year was 1863, nearing the end of the war. Our tour group were to act as villagers traveling from house to house, collecting money for the women and children of men away at war. If you've never been, it's probably one of the more unique things that Ohio has to offer. Live actors, nothing overly-perfected about the whole entertainment of it, and walking from house to house with candle-lit lanterns is pretty cool. Comforting, especially in pure darkness, a bit a snow falling and not a sound to be heard for miles. I was pretty entertained.

I am looking forward to tomorrow... I think it starts somewhere around 6am with a cocktail. So I've heard. That might just be a rumor, though. On deck for tomorrow:

Grocery shopping: Christmas guacamole and Three Bean Chili
Cooking said recipes listed above
Possibly attending the men's CSU basketball game tomorrow to see the sis-in-law's cheer squad go to town
Wander over to my friend Rachael's for some wine (whine!?) and cookie baking
Wander over to my aunt and uncles for:

Highballs
Kielbasa
Pierogies
White Elephant exchange
Talent Show (?!?!?!?)
Harassment
Highballs
Amusement
Consuming more food than I can possibly comprehend
Family
Friends
Chocolate
Poker
Highballs
Possible drunk dials

Beware.

Labels: books, Cleveland, holiday stuff, lists, recipes