By Laura Stec
E-mail Laura Stec
About this blog: I've been attracted to food for good and bad reasons for many years. From eating disorder to east coast culinary school, food has been my passion, profession & nemesis. I've been a sugar addict, a 17-year vegetarian, a food and en...
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About this blog: I've been attracted to food for good and bad reasons for many years. From eating disorder to east coast culinary school, food has been my passion, profession & nemesis. I've been a sugar addict, a 17-year vegetarian, a food and environment pioneer, macrobiotic, Master Cleanser, ayurvedic, and officially-designated health-nut or party-girl (depending on the year). Professionally, I've worn many industry hats including: line cook, corporate chef, Food Coach, caterer, product developer, restaurant reviewer, culinary school teacher, corporate wellness educator, food co-op clerk, author, and even Cirque-du-Soleil lead popcorn concessioner! For years I managed an outdoor kitchen, deep in the bear-infested woods of Tahoe, and also for hospitals (the most unhealthy kitchen I ever worked in?), Singapore high-rises, mule-pack trips, Canadian catholic rectories, and more events than I could ever recall. Yet I still keep discovering. Actually, I adapt everyday by new lessons learned from teachers, customers and students. However there is one food truth I now hold sacrosanct: Eaters are motivated by pleasure. So no matter what we discuss here - recipes or restaurants, food politics or pairings, local events, food as art, or even as God, I will always come from a high-vibe, party perspective. Oh I do still long to change the world with great tasting food, but know in my heart, "If it ain't fun, it don't get done!" So - wanna come to the Food Party? By the way - it's a potluck.
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I wasn't going to write this week, but love got a hold of me. Valentines Day is near my sweet. Let me kiss your hand and whisper poems to you on food and love.
You have to admit that nothing would be more tiresome than eating and drinking if God had not made them a pleasure as well as a necessity. (1)
No really, if more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world. (2)
I heard if you really want to make a friend, go to someone's house and eat with them...the people who give you their food, give you their heart. (3)
Yes, yes, and if
music be the food of love, play on. (4)
On a personal note, I went in for the annual checkup. My doctor said I had to stop throwing intimate dinners for four unless I invited three other people. (5) I told her my weaknesses have always been food and men?in that order. (6)
Doc, I said, "Did you know cooking is a lot like making love? It just takes a little longer to cleanup." (7)
And she said, "Yes, all you need is love, Laura. But a little chocolate now and then doesn't hurt." (8)
Happy Valentines Day sweetheart.
Thou art to me a delicious torment. (9)

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1. Voltaire
2. J. R. R. Tolkien
3. Cesar Chavez
4. William Shakespeare
5. Orson Welles
6. Dolly Parton
7. Michael Tucker
8. Charles M. Schulz
9. Ralph Waldo Emerson